Tyson Foods is a food company that raises, processes and sells meat and prepared foods. Founded in 1935, it is based in Springdale, Arkansas, and had approximately 133,000 employees at the end of fiscal 2025. Its brands include Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Wright, State Fair and Aidells. It sells to grocery stores and wholesalers, warehouse clubs, restaurants and restaurant distributors, the military, schools, hospitals, convenience stores and export buyers.
It reports four segments: Beef, Pork, Chicken and Prepared Foods. Beef and Pork process live cattle and hogs into cuts of meat, including case-ready and fully cooked products. Chicken is fully vertically integrated, which means Tyson handles breeding stock, contract farmers, feed, processing and transport. Prepared Foods makes frozen and refrigerated items such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs, sandwiches and prepared meals. A fifth group, International/Other, covers foreign operations in places such as China, Mexico and Thailand.
Costs for animals and feed matter a great deal to the business. Corn, soybean meal and other feed ingredients represented roughly 53% of its cost of growing a live chicken in fiscal 2025. Tyson relies on contract farmers and independent producers for livestock. Through its subsidiary Cobb-Vantress it is also a supplier of poultry breeding stock, and through Tyson New Ventures it invests in new food technology companies.