Overview
- Yum reached unanimous board approval on Tuesday, June 16, 2026, to sell Pizza Hut in two definitive agreements that value the brand at about $2.7 billion.
- LongRange Capital will buy Pizza Hut’s operations outside mainland China for roughly $1.5 billion while Yum China will acquire the mainland China business for about $1.2 billion.
- Yum expects approximately $2.3 billion in net proceeds after taxes and fees, a potential $75 million earn-out from LongRange by 2030, and about $85 million in one-time separation costs through 2026.
- The transactions are expected to close in the third quarter of 2026 subject to regulatory approvals and customary conditions and Yum will stop reporting Pizza Hut as a separate division after closing.
- Yum says the move lets it focus investment on KFC, Taco Bell and Habit while returning capital to shareholders through an incremental $4 billion buyback; the deal also follows Pizza Hut’s prolonged U.S. sales declines, recent U.S. store closures, franchisee disputes over new tech, and broader industry shifts toward delivery and private-equity takeovers.