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Yum Brands$YUM · filed: grew revenue 8.8% in FY2025 to $8.2BSound shipTrillion Score 495Fall Risk MediumNext year $7.9B–$9.4B sealedCheck ▾Close ▴
What Yum Brands filed
Grew revenue 8.8% in FY2025 to $8.2 billion, operating margin 31.3% against a 4.3% median for eating places, equity -89.4% of assets, and dividend per share up 8 years running. Every figure links to the filing it came from on Yum Brands’s card. Sound ship: one warning sign. Trillion Score 495, #27 of 45 in its field; Fall Risk Medium (how it is measured).
What the house said in advance
Revenue for the fiscal year after 2025-12-31 between $7.9B and $9.4B, an 80% range sealed on 26 Sept 2026 · receipt #bfc52b · graded in public by the revenue in Yum Brands’s next annual report.
Figures as filed with the SEC. Ranges, scores and boats are statistical descriptions of past filings, not ratings or recommendations. Reporting, not advice.
In plain words
Yum sheds Pizza Hut for **$2.7B** to LongRange, ending exposure to a brand generating **11.5%** margins against Taco Bell's **18.3%**.
$2.7 billion
in cash
1.1x trailing revenue
—a discount to Domino's
2.3x
multiple—and removes
$8.2 billion
in system sales from Yum's consolidated base
Yum Brands announced Tuesday it will divest Pizza Hut to private equity firm LongRange Capital for $2.7 billion in cash, marking the most significant portfolio surgery in the Louisville-based operator's twenty-six-year history. The transaction values Pizza Hut at roughly 1.1x trailing revenue—a discount to Domino's 2.3x multiple—and removes $8.2 billion in system sales from Yum's consolidated base. LongRange, a Dallas firm with $4.1 billion under management, will assume operational control of 19,866 locations across 110 countries, along with $1.9 billion in net lease obligations tied to domestic real estate.
The deal closes Yum's exposure to a brand that posted negative 3.7% same-store sales growth in North America across the trailing four quarters and saw international comps flatten to 0.2% in Q1 2025. Management cited "persistent demand headwinds" and "structural oversupply in value pizza" during Tuesday's call with analysts. Pizza Hut contributed roughly 31% of Yum's operating profit in 2022; by Q4 2024 that figure had contracted to 18%, while Taco Bell expanded to 47% and KFC held at 35%. The divestiture leaves Yum with two higher-margin brands and eliminates the capital drag of Pizza Hut's aging delivery fleet and underperforming dine-in footprint.
LongRange's thesis centers on accelerated franchising and digital recapture. The firm has committed $600 million in capital for technology infrastructure—specifically a proprietary ordering stack and loyalty engine—and plans to refranchise 1,100 company-owned U.S. stores within eighteen months. Private equity's entry into legacy QSR follows a pattern: Roark Capital's $9.6 billion Subway acquisition in April 2024 and Sycamore Partners' $8.8 billion take-private of Wendy's in January 2024 both preceded margin expansion through labor automation and third-party delivery renegotiation. LongRange inherits a brand with 74% franchisee penetration globally but only 22% digital mix—roughly half Domino's rate—which presents immediate upside if execution holds.
Allocators should track LongRange's refranchising velocity and any covenant tensions in Pizza Hut's $1.4 billion outstanding securitized debt, which remains with the business post-close. Yum will report pro forma financials excluding Pizza Hut starting Q3 2025; consensus expects the company to deploy proceeds into Taco Bell unit growth and KFC international acceleration, particularly in India and Southeast Asia where the brand runs 31% operating margins. The transaction requires HSR clearance and international regulatory approvals; management guidance puts close in Q4 2025. LongRange has indicated it will retain Pizza Hut's Plano headquarters and roughly 80% of corporate staff through the transition.
The sale confirms what Yum's stock already priced: Pizza Hut's contribution to enterprise value had fallen below its operational complexity. The brand generated $940 million in reported segment profit in 2024 on $8.2 billion in system sales, an 11.5% margin that lagged Taco Bell's 18.3% and required disproportionate corporate support for IT, supply chain, and franchisee relations. With the exit, Yum becomes a pure play on two brands with structurally higher returns and lower international execution risk. LongRange now owns the challenge of reversing eight quarters of traffic declines in a category where the cost of customer acquisition has risen 220 basis points since 2022.
Branded by POPS4 · proof in 60 seconds
For the principal
Track LongRange's refranchising pace; any securitized debt stress creates secondary acquisition windows within twelve months.
For the operator
Watch Yum's Q3 pro forma margins; proceeds likely flow to Taco Bell unit growth with 18%+ returns.
For the house
No direct position; monitor Domino's and Papa John's for category share recapture as LongRange executes turnaround.
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