Pizza Hut to be sold for $2.7B after years of – Business News
Someone “outpizzaed” the hut.
Yum! Brands stated Tuesday it’s promoting Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion, after years of lagging gross sales on the pizza chain.
Private-equity firm LongRange Capital has agreed to purchase Pizza Hut’s operations, excluding mainland China, for roughly $1.5 billion. Yum China Holdings will buy operations in mainland China in a separate deal price $1.2 billion.
Yum! Brands on Tuesday introduced it’s promoting Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion. Christopher Sadowski
The offers – that are anticipated to close within the third quarter – come as little shock after Yum! launched a strategic review final November whereas Pizza Hut regularly churned out weaker outcomes than sister manufacturers Taco Bell and KFC.
Shares in Louisville, Ky.-based Yum! jumped 1.9% Tuesday after it stated the gross sales will present it with “the strongest path to maximize shareholder value” and permit it to deal with its stronger manufacturers.
With US gross sales at Pizza Hut falling for about two years, the chain has persistently misplaced market share to Domino’s Pizza – which snagged its title as the most important pizza-restaurant operator within the nation in 2017.
“Under LongRange and Yum China, Pizza Hut will be well positioned for future growth with ownership that brings deep expertise in the restaurant industry,” stated Yum! CEO Chris Turner, who took the helm final October and argued for a sale of the pizza phase.
Fast-food pizza chains have been ailing as cash-strapped customers cut back and third-party supply apps eat into earnings. US gross sales throughout the class dropped 0.3% final yr from 2024, in accordance to market-research firm Technomic.
As of 2025, Pizza Hut operated about 6,300 shops within the US, its largest market. It has practically 20,000 places worldwide throughout 108 nations.
Earlier this yr, Yum! introduced it was closing round 250 underperforming US Pizza Huts. Papa John’s has been shuttering dozens of places, too.
In a last-ditch effort to flip round gross sales, Pizza Hut added flashy objects to its US menus, together with a Crispy Parm Pan Pizza, and launched new offers and a membership program.
Pizza Hut has regularly churned out weaker outcomes than sister manufacturers Taco Bell and KFC. NurPhoto through Getty Images
It additionally tried to lean into followers’ nostalgia, bringing back its Book It! studying program. That rewards elementary schoolers with a free personal pan pizza for hitting studying targets.
China, its second-largest market, has been a vibrant spot for Pizza Hut – which is the most important informal eating model within the nation. It operates 4,375 eating places in China, promoting steak and pasta as well as to the mainstay of pizza.
Yum! stated it expects to rake in about $2.3 billion in web proceeds from each offers. It additionally anticipates one-time bills of roughly $85 million by way of the remainder of 2026 tied to the gross sales.
LongRange, the private-equity firm buying Pizza Hut, earlier this yr agreed to buy 24 Hour Fitness. It and in addition owns Batesville, a company that makes caskets and cremation urns.
Yum! introduced earlier this yr it was closing round 250 underperforming US Pizza Hut shops. Christopher Sadowski
Pizza Hut was based by brothers Dan and Frank Carney in 1958 in Wichita, Kan.
It shortly grew into the most important pizza chain on this planet, and in 1977, it was purchased by PepsiCo.
The soda giant spun off its restaurant business in 1997, combining Pizza Hut underneath the identical holding company as Taco Bell and KFC.
Over the previous few years, Pizza Hut has moved away from its conventional, sit-down format with a salad bar to focus more on supply companies – however has failed to win back clients en masse.
