Yum! approves $4B in stock buy backs as private equity firm LongRange Capital acquires most stores
LOUISVILLE, Kentucky – Yum! Brands Inc. will sell Pizza Hut to private equity firm LongRange Capital for $2.7 billion, according to the publicly traded restaurant giant. Yum! Brands’ stock price jumped 3.4% at market open in response to the news.
The deal includes most Pizza Hut stores outside of mainland China, where stores will be acquired by Yum China Holdings – an exclusive licensee of Yum! Brands – for $1.2 billion.
The board of directors of Yum! Brands unanimously approved the deal in addition to authorizing an incremental $4 billion for the repurchase of common stock in the company. The move indicates Yum! plans to use proceeds from the sale to invest in its remaining brands, which include KFC, Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill.
Yum! Brands announced in November 2025 that it had begun reviewing options for the Pizza Hut brand after welcoming a new CEO a month earlier. Pizza Hut closed 250 stores earlier this year in response to a 5% decrease in sales during 2025.
“Pizza Hut is one of the most iconic restaurant brands in the world, and we are proud of the important role it has played in Yum!’s history,” CEO Chris Turner says in a news release announcing the deals. “These transactions enable Yum! to be a more focused company that continues to leverage scale, technology and talent … and deliver sustained value for our stakeholders.”
Pizza Hut Transaction
Yum! Brands says it “expects to receive approximately $2.3 billion of net proceeds after taxes and fees under the deal; the company could receive an additional $75 million in earn-out payments by 2030. One-time expenses to facilitate the transaction are expected to reach around $85 million, according to Yum! Brands.
Under LongRange Capital, Pizza Hut will continue to receive certain corporate services and a proprietary technology platform from Yum! Brands. The seller will share additional updates on July 30, during its second-quarter earnings call.
Other companies under LongRange Capital’s umbrella include 24 Hour Fitness, which it acquired in January in a partnership with the gym’s founder’ Mark Mastrov. The private equity firm also owns Alpin Unlimited, Bakkavor, Batesville and US Synthetic.
What Does This Mean?
Commercial real estate investor and executive Ray Kang says in a LinkedIn post that LongRange Capital is likely to be taking a close look at store-level performance.
“When private equity takes over a legacy restaurant brand with an operational mandate, the first thing on the table is usually the real estate – which locations earn their rent, and which don’t,” Kang says. “Pizza Hut is a familiar strip center pad site tenant. Nothing’s been announced about stores yet, but if you own retail, the buyer’s playbook is the storyline to watch, not the headline price.”
Dan Sheehan, director of portfolio management at Telos Family Office, says, “Pizza Hut was the asset that no longer fit,” adding that the company “absorbed real damage as third-party delivery apps reset the unit economics of the category.”
Meanwhile, “LongRange is paying real money for a brand that most public investors had written off. PE can do things Yum couldn’t under quarterly scrutiny,” Sheehan says, specifying that aggressive store rationalization and technology investment are on the table.
Background
Pizza Hut was launched in 1958 by Dan and Frank Carney, who began franchising the pizzeria in 1959. The Carneys sold the company to PepsiCo in 1977, which spun off a restaurant group that was renamed Yum! Brands in 2002.
According to Yum Brands! first-quarter 2026 earnings release, 40% of Pizza Hut sales come from U.S.-based stores, while China is responsible for 19% of system-wide sales, followed by the rest of Asia (13%), Europe (12%) and Latin America (7%).
The company reported $253 million in total sales for the quarter ended March 31, with an operating profit of $64 million.
