Tyson Foods heir says in a memo he is 'embarrassed' after falling asleep in female stranger's bed

The Tyson Foods heir and newly appointed CFO has apologized to the company in a public memo after drunkenly falling asleep in a random woman's bed in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

John R. Tyson - a great grandson of Tyson Food's founder - was arrested and charged with public intoxication and trespassing after a college-aged woman found him asleep in her bed at 2am and called the police.

Tyson, 32, said in the memo that his behavior was 'inconsistent with [his] personal values, the company's values and the high expectations we hold for each other.'

'I made a serious mistake and this has caused me to reflect deeply on the impact my actions can have on others,' he said in the memo, which was provided to the Associated Press.

It is not clear how exactly Tyson ended up in the woman's home but she told dispatchers at the time that she did not know him and may have left her front door open accidentally.

According to an incident report produced by the Fayetteville Police Department, officers received a call early on Sunday morning from a woman who had come home to find a man she didn't know sleeping in her bed.

When officers arrived, they tried to wake Tyson but found he smelt of alcohol and was 'sluggish and uncoordinated'. His clothes were on the floor.

Tyson was taken to Washington County jail and charged with public intoxication and criminal trespassing. He was released on Sunday on a $415 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on December 1.

John R. Tyson - a great grandson of Tyson Food's founder - was arrested and charged with public intoxication and trespassing after a college-aged woman found him asleep in her bed at 2am and called the police

Tyson Foods, based in Arkansas, is worth around $24 billion. The Tyson family is worth around $3 billion

Tyson attended Harvard and Stanford University before coming aboard at the family company - he also worked as an investment banker at JP Morgan and in private equity and venture capital

The billionaire heir was made CFO of Tyson Foods just a month ago on October 2, making him the youngest CFO serving at a company in the Fortune 500 or S&P 500.

This serves as a major blow to the young executive's credibility and comes around a week before he was due to address the company as CFO for the first time in an earnings call.

He is the son of the Tyson Foods chairman John H. Tyson. His family is worth an estimated $3.3 billion while the meat company they built is worth around $24 billion. Tyson Foods is the biggest US meat company in terms of sales.

Tyson is seen at the Washington County Sheriff's Office after being arrested on Sunday morning

'This will be a critical moment for Tyson Foods and corporate governance,' associate dean at the Cox School of Business, part of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Shane Goodwin told Fortune.

Tyson Foods is a unique company because although it is a publicly traded, the Tyson family still holds most of the power. 

Shares in the company are divided into two different classes. The Tyson family owns 99.9 percent of the more significant Class B shares - allowing them to outvote Class A shareholders by 10 to 1.

On the other hand, the company also has 'many stakeholders to consider not only shareholders, but customers, employees, and the community,' Goodwin added.

'Personally, in my honest opinion, if I were [the chairman] in this situation, I would immediately suspend my son. This lapse of judgment cannot be tolerated for such a serious job,' Goodwin told Fortune.  

Shares in the company are divided into two different classes. The Tyson family owns 99.9 percent of the more significant Class B shares - allowing them to outvote Class A shareholders by 10 to 1

The Tyson Foods meat company has grown over the last three generations into a $24 billion brand. John R. Tyson is the youngest CFO currently serving a Fortune and S&P 500 company

John H. Tyson, chairman, president and CEO of Tyson Foods, is seen during a panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland

Tyson attended Harvard University for his undergraduate degree and received an MBA from Stanford.

After working as an investment banker at J.P. Morgan, he joined Tyson Foods in 2019 and led its sustainability and enterprise strategy teams. 

Tyson is the second executive of a big 'meat' company to be arrested in Arkansas in the last few months.

Beyond Meat COO Doug Ramsey, 53, was arrested outside an Arkansas football game last month.

Ramsey allegedly punched a man's Subaru window out and threatened to kill him before biting the tip of his nose in a parking garage outside of Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville.

The already-struggling company's stocks plummeted in the days after his arrest. Soon after he was suspended by executives.