Known for his philanthropy, Joseph Moscone is an international businessman and founder of Moscone Industries which co-funded Prof. Cornwell's research into developing a super-seed which could grow in salt water. Moscone's company had been working with Russia for years trying to develop the seed themselves but had apparently failed until they teamed up with the Cornwell Institute.

Moscones plans, however, were mostly self serving as he had planned to steal the seed and reverse engineer it so it would only grow once per season meaning each year the seed would need to be brought from his company and ultimately place the power of world food supply in his hands. He was also responsible for ordering the deaths of a number of people who stood in his way as well as a seven million dollar hit on MacGyver, which dropped each day he remained alive, to serve as a distraction to try and stop him from interfering with the plans to steal the seed.