Yum! Brands To Sell Plano-Based Pizza Hut For $2.7 Billion – Local Profile

The sale is split between two buyers, with the deal expected to close later this year

Pizza Hut, the Plano-based pizza giant known for its red roofs and stuffed crusts, is changing hands. Yum! Brands is selling the pizza company for $2.7 billion, splitting the transaction between two buyers.

Private equity firm LongRange Capital will acquire the chain’s operations outside mainland China for roughly $1.5 billion, while Yum! China Holdings Inc. will take over the mainland China business separately for approximately $1.2 billion. China represents Pizza Hut’s second-largest market behind the U.S., accounting for 19% of total sales.

According to AP News, Yum! Brands began exploring options for Pizza Hut back in November. The chain has had a rough run lately. Last year, Yum’!s global sales rose 5%, but Pizza Hut’s sales alone fell 2%. In February, the company announced plans to close 250 U.S. Pizza Hut locations. As of the end of last year, Pizza Hut still operated 19,974 restaurants worldwide.

The sale is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026, pending regulatory approval. Once it does, Yum! Brands will be left with just two of its three major chains: KFC and Taco Bell.

“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,” said Yum! Brands CEO Chris Turner. “Pizza Hut was built by the passion and dedication of our team members, employees and franchisees, and we’re excited for the next chapter.”

A Long History Under One Roof

Pizza Hut was founded in 1958 in Wichita, Kansas, and spent decades building into one of the most recognizable pizza brands in the country. PepsiCo acquired the chain in 1977, then spun off its restaurant division — Pizza Hut, KFC and Taco Bell together — in 1997. That spinoff eventually became Yum! Brands in 2002.

For nearly three decades, the three chains operated under one corporate parent. This sale ends that arrangement for Pizza Hut specifically, breaking up a restaurant portfolio that has stayed largely intact since the late ’90s.

A Local Wrinkle

Pizza Hut has called Plano home since relocating its headquarters there in 2011. Its sister brand, KFC, deepened Yum! Brands’ presence in the region when it moved its headquarters from Louisville, Kentucky, to Plano in 2025, ending a decades-long run in its home state.

With Pizza Hut now headed toward new ownership, what happens to its Plano presence, and whether LongRange Capital keeps the headquarters in North Texas, remains an open question as the deal moves toward closing.

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