Pizza Hut is officially set to get a new owner after one of the most turbulent stretches in the brand's nearly 70-year history.
On Tuesday, June 16, Yum! Brands announced it is selling Pizza Hut in two separate transactions valued at approximately $2.7 billion. Private-equity firm LongRange Capital will acquire the business outside mainland China for roughly $1.5 billion, while Yum China Holdings will purchase the mainland China operation for about $1.2 billion. According to ABC 13, the deals are expected to close during the third quarter.
The sale marks the end of an era for Yum, which has owned Pizza Hut since the restaurant giant was spun off from PepsiCo in 1997. It also caps a months-long strategic review that increasingly signaled the company was ready to move on from a brand that had become its biggest turnaround challenge.
While sister chains Taco Bell and KFC continued to post growth, Pizza Hut struggled with declining profits, sluggish same-store sales, an aging location base, and fierce competition from rivals like Domino's Pizza.
Yum CEO Chris Turner framed the transaction as a fresh start for the iconic pizza chain.
"Under LongRange and Yum China, Pizza Hut will be well-positioned for future growth with ownership that brings deep expertise in the restaurant industry," Turner said in a statement announcing the deal.
The sale comes after a year in which Pizza Hut found itself pulled in two very different directions. On one hand, Yum was aggressively pitching technology as the future of the business, partnering with NVIDIA and rolling out AI-powered systems designed to modernize restaurant operations.
On the other hand, some of the chain's most successful buzz came from looking backward. Retro-themed "Pizza Hut Classic" locations featuring red vinyl booths, Tiffany-style lamps, salad bars, and Book It memorabilia went viral online as customers flocked to relive the dine-in experience that helped make the brand a cultural institution.
At the same time, Pizza Hut faced growing operational pressure. Earlier this year, one of its largest franchisees filed a lawsuit seeking more than $100 million in damages, alleging that the chain's AI-powered Dragontail delivery platform caused delays, reduced customer satisfaction, and harmed sales. The lawsuit landed just as Yum was weighing the future of the brand and evaluating strategic alternatives.
For industry analysts, the sale was becoming increasingly inevitable. Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, called Pizza Hut "the weak link in Yum's portfolio," adding that restoring the brand would require a level of investment and patience that Yum was no longer willing to provide.
