Yum Brands $YUM announced Tuesday that it will sell Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion, offloading a brand that has weighed on its overall performance for years.
The deal splits Pizza Hut into two transactions, with LongRange Capital buying most of the chain and Yum China acquiring its mainland China locations
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Yum Brands $YUM announced Tuesday that it will sell Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion, offloading a brand that has weighed on its overall performance for years.
The transaction is structured as two separate deals. Under the terms of the arrangement, LongRange Capital is paying $1.5 billion for Pizza Hut's international operations excluding mainland China, with Yum China taking the remaining piece for $1.2 billion. Once taxes, closing adjustments, and fees are accounted for, the two transactions are projected to net Yum approximately $2.3 billion, not counting a contingent payment of up to $75 million that LongRange could owe by 2030, according to CNBC. Separately, the company has flagged about $85 million in charges it expects to absorb through the end of this year as a result of the transactions. The deals are expected to close in the third quarter, subject to regulatory approval.
"These transactions enable Yum! to be a more focused company," Yum Brands CEO Chris Turner said in a statement. After the sales close, Yum will operate only its Taco Bell and KFC chains.
Heading into the sale, Pizza Hut operated just under 20,000 restaurants in 108 countries and territories, generating $12.8 billion in system sales last year. On a geographic basis, the U.S. drove the largest share of that total at around 40%, while China contributed about 20%.
Pizza Hut accounted for about 12% of Yum's total revenue in 2025, the company said. The chain trailed its sister brands — particularly Taco Bell, which posted 8% same-store sales growth in the most recent quarter — and faced sustained pressure from rival Domino $DPZ's Pizza, which overtook Pizza Hut as the world's largest pizza chain in 2017.
Yum entered exclusive talks with LongRange in May, edging out competing suitors including Sycamore Partners and Apollo Global Management. LongRange was founded in 2019 by Bob Berlin, who previously worked at The Baupost Group and also owns 24 Hour Fitness and ski resort company Alpin Unlimited.
The chain traces its origins to 1958, when Dan and Frank Carney opened the first Pizza Hut in Wichita, Kansas. Nearly two decades later, PepsiCo $PEP purchased it as a foothold in the restaurant industry; by the mid-1980s the beverage giant had rounded out its dining portfolio by adding Taco Bell and KFC. A 1997 spinoff separated those restaurant brands from PepsiCo under a new holding company, Tricon Global Restaurants, which took the name Yum Brands in 2002.
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