Meet the billionaire family behind Tyson Foods, the beef, pork, and chicken juggernaut whose heir apparent has battled legal troubles

john h tyson — Tyson Foods CEO John H. Tyson speaks to employees in 2002.
Greg Smith/Corbis via Getty Image

Tyson Foods owns brands including Jimmy Dean and Hillshire Farm, producing roughly 20% of America's beef, chicken, and pork.
The Arkansas-based company made $53.6 billion in sales last year and has been family-run for generations.
Chairman John H. Tyson and his family are worth $2.3 billion, making the Tysons one of the country's wealthiest families.

Tyson Foods is one of the top four meat companies in the US, selling one out of every five pounds of beef, pork, and chicken eaten by American consumers.

The company has been family-run ever since it was founded in 1931, with chairman John H. Tyson — grandson of founder John W. Tyson — and his relatives controlling a majority of the company's stock. The Tysons are worth $2.3 billion, per Forbes.

Here's a look at the massive beef, pork, and poultry company and the billionaire family behind it.

Tyson Foods is an Arkansas-based meat company that produces about one fifth of the meat consumed in the US. Among the brands that Tyson owns are Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, and Aidells.

Tyson Foods brands include Jimmy Dean sausages, Ball Park hot dogs and Tyson chicken strips. Tyson processes chicken, beef and pork products.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

The business has been family-run through four generations, making the Tyson family one of the wealthiest in the US. Their combined net worth is more than $2.3 billion.

don tyson john h tyson — Don Tyson (left) and his son, John H. Tyson.
Tyson Foods

Source: Forbes

The company's origins trace back to the Great Depression, when in 1931 John W. Tyson started a business delivering chickens around the Midwest.

By the 1940s, demand for poultry had grown, and Tyson moved into raising chicks and grinding feed for local chicken farmers, incorporating his business as Tyson Feed and Hatchery Inc.

In 1952, John W. Tyson's son, Don Tyson, joined the company as a general manager right out of college. The company opened its first processing plant six years later in Arkansas at a cost of $90,000.

The company went public as Tyson Foods in 1963 and began a series of acquisitions. In 1966, Don became president of the company before taking over his father's role a year later as chairman and CEO.

Tyson Foods continued to grow throughout the '70s and '80s, moving into new corporate offices and acquiring companies such as Mexican Original, a flour and corn tortilla company. Between 1984 and 1989, the company doubled in size.

In the late '90s, Don Tyson retired, and his son, John H. Tyson, took over as chairman of the board, becoming the third generation of Tysons to lead the company. He was named CEO in 2000.

As CEO from 2000 to 2009, John H. Tyson oversaw Tyson Foods' $4.6 billion acquisition of meatpacking company IBP Inc., as well as the construction of a company "innovation center." Although he stepped down as CEO in 2009, Tyson remained chairman of the board — a role he still holds to this day.

john tyson tyson foods — John Tyson, then-CEO of Tyson Foods, at a food summit in Chicago in 2005.
Reuters

According to Tyson Foods, Don Tyson remained on the board of directors and stayed active in the company for many years until his death in January 2011 at age 80.

The company made headlines in 2020 during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic due to outbreaks at some of its US meat processing plants, though the company said the "vast majority" of facilities across the US had no cases.

Two people wearing white jumpsuits leave a Tyson Foods facility on a sunny day in Indiana — A Tyson Foods pork processing plant in Indiana.
Michael Conroy/AP Photo

The family connections go beyond John H. Tyson's father and grandfather — his aunt, Barbara Tyson, also sits on the company's board of directors following a career with the company as a director and vice president.

The fourth generation of the family, John R. Tyson, joined the C-suite as chief sustainability officer in 2019, and has since been promoted to chief financial officer. He is presumed to be next in line for the chairmanship of the company.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Earlier this year, the younger Tyson pleaded guilty to charges of public intoxication and criminal trespassing, after he allegedly was found asleep in the bed of a woman who didn't know him. He paid the requisite fines and apologized to Tyson's investors and employees.

John r tyson — John R. Tyson
Tyson Foods

Source: Insider

Rising costs for wages, grain, and livestock led Tyson to raise prices in 2022, which also boosted its profits. But shoppers appear to be pushing back, causing prices to slide, and in April 2023, the company announced layoffs and plant closings. A month later, Tyson surprised investors with its first quarterly loss in 14 years.

A Tyson Foods employee processes chicken at a plant in Arkansas — Greg Smith/Corbis via Getty Images

Source: Company earnings calls via AlphaSense, Axios

In June 2023, the company confirmed that it would lay off 262 workers in South Dakota who declined to relocate to Tyson's headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas.

A sign hangs above the door at the Tyson Foods offices on October 06, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. — Scott Olson/Getty Images

Source: Reuters

"I can't remember a time when our business faced the highly unusual situation that we're currently seeing, where all three of our core protein categories, beef, pork and chicken are experiencing market challenges at the same time," current CEO Donnie King told investors.

Source: Company earnings call via AlphaSense

The Tyson family is sure to feel the hit to the company's share price, as they own more than 70% of Tyson stock through the Tyson Limited Partnership.