For the latest fiscal year, ending 29 September, Tyson Foods paid its CEO a US$2.1m bonus on top of his US$650,000 pay packet, despite that the company has recently been fraught by troubles over its takeover of meatpacker IBP and a federal indictment for smuggling alien workers.
In contrast, CEO John Tyson received no bonus for his performance during the previous year, which was untainted by such troubles.
Last autumn, Tyson Foods was ordered by a Delaware judge to fulfil its obligation to purchase IBP for US$3.2bn, despite having accused the South Dakota-based meatpacker of failing to fully disclose its financial condition when the deal was originally struck.
By December, the meat giant was buffeted by a federal indictment in Tennessee that accused six of its managers of conspiring to smuggle illegal immigrants into the US to employed at 15 of the company#;s plants. Tyson has denied the charges.
Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson, the largest meat producer in the world, provided details of the massive bonus in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission yesterday [Wednesday].
