Things you may not have known: Tyson Foods

Tyson Foods is certainly not the regional company it was 40 years ago or the large national company it was just a few decades ago. It’s now a global meat processing and distribution company, and you probably didn’t know that 90% of the pepperoni on frozen pizzas comes from a Tyson company.

Following are some other things you probably didn’t know about the company founded and based in Springdale, Ark.

GOVERNMENT BUSINESS
The Fortune 500 food company does big business with the federal government, garnering more than $4.7 billion in government contract business since 2000.

$500 million
That’s the value of a contract business between Tyson Foods and the U.S. government that could be in jeopardy if the company is found guilty in an ongoing criminal probe by the Environmental Protection Agency over toxic chemicals released by a plant in Monett, Mo., last year. Tyson Foods recently settled a civil suit with the Missouri’s Attorney General agreeing to pay $530,000 for that unlawful dumping that killed 100,000 fish.

$2.096 million
Tyson Foods spent just short of $2.1 million on federal lobbying efforts in 2014. That’s a little more than Kellogg ($1.88 million) and slightly behind General Mills ($2.47 million) who led the pack among food processing companies.

Under CEO Donnie Smith’s watch, spending on lobbying efforts has been reduced from $5 million in 2010 to just under $2.1 million in 2014. Last year Tyson’s lobby funds went toward tax issues, trade around opening and expanding markets for U.S. beef and pork, Country of Origin Labeling, the federal farm bill, propane prices, agricultural interests, comprehensive immigration reform, labor and workforce issues surrounding the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, according to OpenSecrets.org and FollowTheMoney.com.

ELECTIONEERING
Tyson Foods spent $226,649 on political contributions in 2014. The Republican candidates received $128,200, while $61,200 went to the Democratic candidates and $30,000 to independents.

The top PAC (political action committee) recipients were the National Republican Senatorial Committee for $30,000 and Ready for Hillary at $25,000, the later was a personal donation made by chairman John Tyson. The largest individual recipient was former U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, D-Ark., who got $30,650 from Tyson Foods.

SHAREHOLDER CONTROL
Tyson Foods went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1963 with shares opening at $10.50 and a market cap of $1 million. An investor who purchased 100 shares for a$1,050 total in 1963 could cash that investment in today for about $142,000. That’s a total return of 13,423% over the 52-year period. This growth is largely due to eight stock splits between 1968 and 1997. 

Tyson’s largest shareholder is the Tyson Family who controls 99.98% of the restricted Class B stock totaling 70 million shares registered to the Tyson Limited Partnership. These restricted shares carry a 10:1 voting advantage over the publicly traded Class Stock. The Tyson Family also owns 2 million shares of Class A Stock.

The largest shareholders of Class A stock is Vanguard Group who has 7.37% of the outstanding stock or 22.481 million shares, according to the company’s recent Proxy filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. BlackRock Inc. holds a 6.59% stake in Tyson Foods controlling more than 20.113 million shares. 

Board Chairman and Tyson heir John Tyson owns 1.04% of the company’s Class A Stock, a position of more than 3.163 million shares with a street value of $130.5 million. CEO Donnie Smith holds 1.703 million shares worth an estimated $70.29 million. The entire slate of officers and directors at Tyson Foods controls a total of 7.503 million shares or 2.46% of the outstanding Class A stock.

OTHER STUFF TO CHEW ON
• In a year’s time Tyson’s Any’tizers chicken fries if laid end to end would circle the entire globe.

• Company’s owned by Tyson Foods make enough hamburger patties each year to cover 13,306 football fields.

• The company’s fresh meat division turns out enough hams annually to make a stack of breakfast sandwiches reach 7,357 feet high – or more than five times the height of the Empire State Building.

• Tyson Foods makes about half of all pepperoni used by the major pizza chains and about 90% of the pepperoni that ends up on frozen pizza.

• The meat giant is also the second largest manufacturer of flour and corn tortillas and chips in the United States.

• Tyson Foods buys more than seven million bushels of corn each week which is combined with soybean meal that make up the feed it distributes to about 5,500 contract farms that supply its 57 chicken plants.

• Tyson Foods will annually spend more than $1 billion on corn. Tyson said it takes 3.7 bushels of corn to produce 100 pounds of boneless, skinless chicken meat.

GIVING BACK
Food is Tyson’s business and its stand against hunger prevention has led to more 100 million pounds of food donations since 2000. Since 2004, the company has the equivalent of roughly 300 million meals, as part of its commitment to hunger relief.

The meat company also found other ways to help local charities in the towns where it operates. In the past 13 months Tyson Foods has donated more than $2 million in its own backyard to benefit downtown development in Springdale, Arkansas Children’s Hospital outreach in Lowell and the University of Arkansas. In Iowa, Tyson made two large contributions to the YMCAs in Council Bluffs and Sioux City totaling $350,000, while another $150,000 was awarded to charities in New Jersey and Mississippi and $100,000 more awarded to nonprofits in North Carolina, according to the company’s website.