Someone “outpizzaed” the hut.
Yum! Brands said Tuesday it is selling Pizza Hut for $2.7 billion, after years of lagging sales at the pizza chain.
Private-equity firm LongRange Capital has agreed to acquire Pizza Hut’s operations, excluding mainland China, for roughly $1.5 billion. Yum China Holdings will purchase operations in mainland China in a separate deal worth $1.2 billion.
The deals – which are expected to close in the third quarter – come as little surprise after Yum! launched a strategic review last November while Pizza Hut continually churned out weaker results than sister brands Taco Bell and KFC.
Shares in Louisville, Ky.-based Yum! jumped 1.9% Tuesday after it said the sales will provide it with “the strongest path to maximize shareholder value” and allow it to focus on its stronger brands.
With US sales at Pizza Hut falling for about two years, the chain has consistently lost market share to Domino’s Pizza – which snagged its title as the largest pizza-restaurant operator in the country 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,” said Yum! CEO Chris Turner, who took the helm last October and argued for a sale of the pizza segment.
Fast-food pizza chains have been ailing as cash-strapped consumers cut back and third-party delivery apps eat into profits. US sales across the category dropped 0.3% last year from 2024, according to market-research firm Technomic.
As of 2025, Pizza Hut operated about 6,300 stores in the US, its largest market. It has nearly 20,000 locations worldwide across 108 countries.
Earlier this year, Yum! announced it was closing around 250 underperforming US Pizza Huts. Papa John’s has been shuttering dozens of locations, too.
In a last-ditch effort to turn around sales, Pizza Hut added flashy items to its US menus, including a Crispy Parm Pan Pizza, and launched new deals and a membership program.
It also attempted to lean into fans’ nostalgia, bringing back its Book It! reading program. That rewards elementary schoolers with a free personal pan pizza for hitting reading goals.
China, its second-largest market, has been a bright spot for Pizza Hut – which is the biggest casual dining brand in the country. It operates 4,375 restaurants in China, selling steak and pasta in addition to the mainstay of pizza.
Yum! said it expects to rake in about $2.3 billion in net proceeds from both deals. It also anticipates one-time expenses of roughly $85 million through the rest of 2026 tied to the sales.
LongRange, the private-equity firm acquiring Pizza Hut, earlier this year agreed to buy 24 Hour Fitness. It and also owns Batesville, a company that makes caskets and cremation urns.
Pizza Hut was founded by brothers Dan and Frank Carney in 1958 in Wichita, Kan.
It quickly grew into the largest pizza chain in the world, and in 1977, it was bought by PepsiCo.
The soda giant spun off its restaurant business in 1997, combining Pizza Hut under the same holding company as Taco Bell and KFC.
Over the past few years, Pizza Hut has moved away from its traditional, sit-down layout with a salad bar to focus more on delivery services – but has failed to win back customers en masse.