Pizza Hut parent co Yum Brands sells off to private equity firm and Yum China for $2.7 billion

The deal comes as Pizza Hut has struggled for a few years, which has negatively impacted Yum’s financial performance. This comes as Domino’s Pizza took a large market share from Pizza Hut, which, along with third-party delivery apps like DoorDash, has taken sales from the chain.

In November, Yum said it was exploring what it referred to as "strategic options” for Pizza Hut. On Tuesday, the chain said they determined that selling the brand would yield the highest overall value for its shareholders.

Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 by brothers Dan and Frank Carney in Wichita, Kansas. The restaurant quickly gained popularity, and within a year, the brothers had begun franchising the brand. The company's rapid growth continued throughout the 1960s, leading to its public debut on the stock market in 1969. By 1971, Pizza Hut had become the largest pizza chain in the world, a title it held for decades before being surpassed by Domino's in 2017.

The company became part of PepsiCo in 1977 as the beverage giant expanded into the restaurant industry. PepsiCo later acquired Taco Bell and KFC, bringing the three restaurant brands under the same corporate umbrella. In 1997, PepsiCo spun off its restaurant division into a separate company called Tricon Global Restaurants, which was later renamed Yum Brands. Pizza Hut remained alongside Taco Bell and KFC within Yum's reach for nearly three decades.

As of the end of 2025, Pizza Hut operated nearly 20,000 restaurants across 108 countries and territories worldwide. According to Yum Brands' regulatory filings, the chain generated approximately $12.8 billion in annual system sales.

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