Tyson Foods heir, who was once found sleeping in stranger’s bed, is out of a job

Tyson Foods heir John Randal Tyson will not be returning to his job as chief financial officer of the company founded by his great-grandfather.

Published on: Aug 30, 2024, 13:07:25 IST

By Sanya Jain

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Tyson Foods heir John Randal Tyson will not be returning to his job as chief financial officer of the company founded by his great-grandfather. According to a report in Fortune magazine, Tyson Foods on Thursday announced that Curt Calaway will take over the role of CFO permanently.

John R. Tyson is shown in this police booking photo after he was arrested on charges of allegedly driving while intoxicated on June 13, 2024. (via REUTERS)

The announcement comes after incidents of erratic behaviour on John Randal Tyson’s part after joining the company as chief sustainability officer. The 34-year-old scion of Tyson Foods was arrested in 2022 after he was caught sleeping in a stranger’s bed. The arrest occurred just six weeks after he was appointed CFO of the $21 billion firm.

Tyson, then 32, pleaded guilty to charges of public intoxication and criminal trespass. He paid a fine and apologised to Tyson Foods employees in an email - but that was not his last brush with the law.

Driving under influence

In mid-June this year, John Randal Tyson was arrested for driving while intoxicated. According to the Fortune report, the police officer who pulled up Tyson said he felt “a strong odour of intoxicants” coming from inside the car and noticed that Tyson’s eyes were red and watery. The Tyson Foods heir told the police officer that he had been celebrating with friends and family ahead of his sister’s wedding.

This second incident of intoxication led to Tyson’s suspension from the Fortune 500 company founded by his great-grandfather, John W Tyson, in 1935.

Curt Calaway was appointed interim CFO after Tyson’s suspension in mid-June. It has now been announced that Calaway, a finance veteran with 18 years of experience, will take over the role of chief financial officer permanently.

John Randal Tyson, however, will remain an employee of the company and is currently on health-related leave. His father, John H. Tyson, serves as chairman of the company. The younger Tyson’s erratic behaviour has thrown the family’s succession plan into disarray, reports suggest.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sanya Jain
Sanya Jain is an Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times Digital. She has nearly a decade of experience in covering offbeat stories that speak to the everyday experience - from viral videos to human interest copies that spark conversation. Her interests stretch across business, pop culture, social media trends, entertainment and global affairs. Before joining Hindustan Times, Sanya spent two years with Moneycontrol and five years with NDTV. She holds an undergraduate degree in English literature from St Stephen’s College, Delhi, and a master’s in journalism from the Xavier Institute of Communications, Mumbai. Sanya has a sharp eye for spotting emerging trends and looking for newsworthy angles to elevate viral posts into meaningful narratives. She was the first one, for example, to cover Narayana Murthy’s remark on 70-hour work weeks that sparked a national conversation. She is equally at ease writing about business leaders as about the common man, about issues of national importance and memes that amuse social media. Sanya enjoys speaking with content creators, newsmakers and entrepreneurs to transform everyday moments into engaging, slice-of-life stories that resonate with readers. When she is not working, Sanya can be found curled up with a good book. Born and raised in Lucknow, she has spent the last several years in Delhi. She is deeply interested in animal welfare and now spends a lot of her time running after her destructive orange cat.Read More

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