You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the US or other industrialized countries who doesn’t regularly consume meat products sold by Tyson Foods Inc. (aside from vegetarians and vegans, of course). Over the course of about 80 years, the company has become the second largest meat producer in the world. The company’s Chairman and former CEO, John H. Tyson, has a net worth of around $1.8 billion.
But if you ask him, he’ll tell you he’s “just a chicken farmer”.
Tyson is the grandson of the founder of Tyson Foods, John W. Tyson. At age 62, he’s been working in the family business for practically his entire life, starting as a teenager and eventually joining the Board of Directors in 1984. He quickly worked his way up, and was CEO of the business from 1999-2006. He currently serves as Chairman.
John H. Tyson is the man responsible for many different mergers and acquisitions that have made Tyson Foods the largest protein-processing company in the world. The company now owns IBP Inc., and famous brands like Ball Park, Hillshire Farms, Jimmy Dean, Sarah Lee, and many others.
And grocery shoppers aren’t his only customers – Tyson Foods is also a major supplier of meat products to KFC, Taco Bell, McDonald’s, Burger King, and several others, and also produces meat toppings for pizza franchises and frozen pizzas. So chances are good that if you eat meat, you’ve eaten meat from Tyson Foods.
Tyson has had his fair share of controversy, including allegations of conspiracy to hire illegal immigrants, violating employee rights, environmental concerns, animal abuse, and price manipulation, to name a few. That being said, the company has donated millions of pounds of food for anti-hunger programs and in the wake of disasters, like the Joplin tornado and the Gulf oil spill. In fact, Tyson Foods was ranked as the second most generous corporate donor to charity as a proportion of yearly operating income.