At around 1 a.m. on June 13, John Randal Tyson, the slim and boyish 34-year-old scion of the Tyson Foods empire, tried to level with the Fayetteville, Ark., police officer who had just pulled him over for suspected drunk driving. “Can I ask you a genuine preference?” Tyson says in a bodycam video, one hand to his chest, perhaps in an effort to convey sincerity. “Which is, like, if I get in trouble tonight, my life will be ruined.”
The statement is not a question or a preference, and it sounds like the hyperbolic ramblings of a guy who has had too many Miller Lites (which Tyson says he was drinking that night, according to the police report obtained by Fortune). But it’s easy to understand why, in that moment, he felt doomed.
At the time, Tyson was CFO and chief sustainability officer at Tyson Foods, a $21 billion company founded by his great-grandfather and headquartered in adjacent Springdale, Ark. And his arrest in June was the second time he’d been collared for an alcohol-related crime since becoming Tyson’s chief financial officer, and the youngest CFO in the Fortune 500, in 2022. In November of that year, just six weeks after he started the job, it was widely reported that Tyson was found sleeping in a stranger’s bed and charged with trespassing and public intoxication. (He eventually pleaded guilty and paid $440 in fines.) He was thought to be in line to become Tyson Foods’ CEO, but his two arrests in 19 months have now thrust his future at the meat-processing giant into doubt.
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the {{IssueName}} edition of {{MagazineName}}.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
THE NEW GOLD RUSH
Gold prices have soared amid global uncertainty and a central-bank-driven buying spree. But this time, the gold mining industry looks very different.
A New Season for Giving
As the PGA TOUR kicks off its 2025 season alongside its sponsors in Hawai'i, the organization is continuing to make an impact in local communities.
WELCOME TO ELONTOWN, USA
The small town of Bastrop, Texas (pop. 12,000), has become a home base for Elon Musk's business empire. What comes next is anyone's guess.
100 MOST POWERFUL PEOPLE
Our inaugural, authoritative ranking of the leaders whose innovation and impact have elevated them to the top of the business world.
ARE CEO SABBATICALS THE ULTIMATE POWER MOVE?
WHEN VENTURE capitalist Jeremy Liew and his wife were dating, they talked about how one day they would take a year to travel the world. \"That's how we'd know we'd made it,\" Liew says.
WHAT ARE THE BEST METRICS FOR MEASURING A STARTUP'S POTENTIAL?
IN HIS 2012 ESSAY \"Startup = Growth,\" Paul Graham talks about a 5% to 7% weekly growth rate as table stakes for startup success. If you're growing 10%, he says, you're doing \"exceptionally well.\"
TECH POLYMARKET'S ELECTION ACCURACY MADE SHAYNE COPLAN A STAR-BUT AN FBI RAID POINTS TO TROUBLE AHEAD
IN NOVEMBER, Shayne Coplan had a week he'll remember for the rest of his life: He got a phone call from the highest echelons at Mar-a-Lago. He went on TV for the first time. And his New York City apartment was raided by the FBI.
WHY BIG TECH IS THE NUCLEAR INDUSTRY'S NEW BEST FRIEND
OVER THE PAST several years, Big Tech firms like Google and Microsoft have trumpeted ambitious plans to go carbon-neutral, or even carbon-negative, by 2030. But then the generative-AI boom came along and threw a giant wrench in their plans.
WHAT PALMER LUCKEY, THE MAN REVOLUTIONIZING WARFARE, IS AFRAID OF
PALMER LUCKEY, the founder of the $14 billion Al-powered weapons startup Anduril, has become the face of change in the defense industry.
GLOBAL BUSINESS BRACES FOR TRUMP 2.0
AROUND THE WORLD in 2024, voters chose change: in South Africa, France, Britain, and Japan. But nowhere does the anti-incumbent trend matter more than in the United States.
