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John Tyson had his own esoteric set of rules of thumb for the company’s finances. Tyson Feed and Hatchery could take on long-term debt only if the interest payments amounted to half the amount the company could deduct from its taxes each year for depreciation of its equipment. If the company could deduct $1 million for depreciation, for example, it could only take on debt with interest payments worth $500,000 or less. This rule seemed arcane, but it was part of a philosophy that John Tyson drove home to his managers. Everybody could take on debt during good times. The banks practically threw money at you if they thought you would take it. But the real survivors thought about their debt in terms of the bad times that would inevitably come. Forty years later, when Don Tyson was running a company worth several billion dollars in annual sales, he would stick tightly to his father’s rule of thumb about debt payments and depreciation.
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Christopher Leonard (The Meat Racket: The Secret Takeover of America's Food Business)