Tyson Foods Inc will cut about 10 percent of corporate jobs and 15 percent of senior leadership positions, Chief Executive Donnie King told employees Wednesday.
The layoffs are the most recent cost-cutting move for America’s largest meat company by revenue as it grapples with declining profits and struggles to improve results at its iconic chicken business.
Talks with the most affected workers will take place this week, King said in a memo to employees seen by Reuters.
“We will drive efficiency by focusing on fewer initiatives with greater intensity and by removing duplication,” said King.
Among those who remain on the board is the company’s heir, John R. Tyson, great-grandson of the company’s founder. In November, Tyson was arrested on charges of criminal trespass and public intoxication.
Tyson Foods Inc will cut about 10 percent of corporate jobs and 15 percent of senior leadership positions, Chief Executive Donnie King told employees Wednesday
Tyson had about 6,000 U.S. employees in corporate offices and 118,000 employees in non-business locations, such as meat plants and warehouses, as of Oct. 1, according to regulatory documents.
The eliminated senior leadership roles are mostly vice presidents and senior vice presidents, a company spokesperson said.
Some of the company’s employees have already left the company after Tyson announced in October that it would move all jobs to its headquarters in Springdale, Arkansas. However, the 10 percent reduction in corporate functions is unrelated to the move, a Tyson spokesperson said.
Tyson has also shaken up his senior executive ranks.
The company fired Chris Langholz as president of its international operations in August. In September, Tyson said that Noelle O’Mara, who ran the prepared foods division, had left the company. John R. Tyson, great-grandson of the company’s founder, took over as chief financial officer.
The layoffs are the latest cost-cutting move for America’s largest meat company by revenue as it grapples with declining profits and struggles to improve results at its iconic chicken business
In January, Tyson replaced the president of his poultry company after the company incorrectly forecasted demand for chicken.
The company has struggled for years to improve the results of its chicken division and said in March it will close two U.S. processing plants employing nearly 1,700 workers.
Adjusted earnings of 85 cents per share in the quarter ended Dec. 31 were 70 percent lower than a year earlier. Tyson will report its next quarterly figures on May 8.
In November 2022, a woman showed up at her home and found 32-year-old Tyson in her bed.
The stranger, who says she doesn’t know Tyson, found the heir to the multibillion-dollar food brand fortune asleep in her bed at around 2am.
The middle-aged woman told authorities she believed she had left the front door unlocked.
In November, Tyson was arrested on charges of criminal trespass and public intoxication, but his position will not be removed by the layoffs
Tyson is seen here at the Washington County Sheriff’s Office after being captured
Local television state Fox 24 reported that Tyson’s breath smelled of alcohol when he was found and that he was unable to verbally respond to police. According to the local report, his movements appeared slow and uncoordinated.
He was seen in orange pants and shirtless at the sheriff’s office. Tyson was released on $415 bail on Sunday evening.
Young Tyson, who also teaches at the University of Arkansas business school, joined the family business in 2019 after working in investment banking at JP Morgan, as well as private equity and venture capital.
He attended Harvard University for his undergraduate degree and received an MBA from Stanford.
The Tyson family is worth an estimated $3.3 billion and the company, founded three generations ago, is worth $24 billion.
According to the Wall Street Journalhe is the youngest CFO employed by a Fortune 500 or S&P 500 company.