An indication hangs above the entrance of a Pizza Hut restaurant on Feb. 9, 2026 in Chicago, Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Photos
Yum Manufacturers on Tuesday introduced it’s promoting Pizza Hut to non-public fairness agency LongRange Capital for roughly $1.5 billion.
The deal excludes the pizza chain’s areas in mainland China; Yum China will purchase these in a separate transaction for about $1.2 billion.
The offers cap off years of struggles for Pizza Hut, which has weighed on Yum’s general monetary efficiency. Within the U.S., the pizza chain has transitioned from the sit-down format and salad bars of yore to deal with supply and carryout — far behind the curve. Rival Domino’s Pizza has wolfed up market share from Pizza Hut for years; third-party supply apps like DoorDash have additional stolen gross sales from the chain.
In November, Yum stated it was exploring strategic choices for Pizza Hut. On Tuesday, the corporate stated its management crew and board decided that promoting Pizza Hut would offer “the strongest path” to maximise shareholder worth and provides the pizza chain an possession construction “tailor-made to its distinct markets, aggressive strengths and long-term priorities.”
Throughout each offers, Yum expects to obtain about $2.3 billion in internet proceeds after taxes, closing changes and costs, excluding a potential earn-out of $75 million by 2030 from LongRange. Yum additionally anticipates one-time bills of about $85 million throughout the remainder of 2026 tied to the transactions.
The corporate’s administration will present extra particulars in regards to the monetary impression of the transactions throughout Yum’s second-quarter convention name on July 30. Yum expects the gross sales to shut within the third quarter, topic to regulatory approval.
Brothers Dan and Frank Carney based Pizza Hut in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas. A yr later, they have been franchising the idea.
In 1969, Pizza Hut went public. Simply two years later, it was the most important pizza chain on the earth, though it misplaced that title in 2017 to Domino’s.
The deal severs Pizza Hut’s decades-long ties to Taco Bell and KFC, its sister manufacturers in Yum’s portfolio.
PepsiCo purchased Pizza Hut in 1977, marking the beverage big’s entry into the restaurant enterprise. By 1986, it additionally owned Taco Bell and KFC. When Pepsi spun off its restaurant unit in 1997, the holding firm was dubbed Tricon International Eating places — later renamed to Yum.
On the finish of 2025, Pizza Hut had practically 20,000 areas throughout 108 international locations and territories and reported $12.8 billion in annual system gross sales, in accordance with regulatory filings from Yum. The U.S. is its greatest market, representing about 40% of its system gross sales, adopted by China with roughly 20% of its system gross sales.
Correction: The headline was up to date to mirror that the $2.7 billion sale worth contains offers with each LongRange Capital and Yum China.
