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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 **$2.7B** Pizza Hut anchor, refocusing capital on Taco Bell and KFC's higher-margin growth trajectories.
$2.7 billion
in cash and assumed liabilities
3,400
Pizza Hut locations under a separate master franchise agreement
$1.2 billion
in system sales during Yum's most recent fiscal year
8%
of consolidated revenue but contributing negative margin growth for…
Yum Brands completed the sale of Pizza Hut to private equity firm LongRange Capital and Yum China Holdings for $2.7 billion in cash and assumed liabilities. The transaction transfers both the U.S. franchise portfolio and international operations outside China, where Yum China already operates 3,400 Pizza Hut locations under a separate master franchise agreement. Yum Brands will retain no ongoing stake in the business.
Pizza Hut generated $1.2 billion in system sales during Yum's most recent fiscal year, representing roughly 8% of consolidated revenue but contributing negative margin growth for five consecutive quarters. U.S. same-store sales declined 4.1% year-over-year in Q4 2024, while unit economics deteriorated as labor costs rose 220 basis points faster than menu price increases. The brand operates approximately 6,800 locations in 110 countries, with 62% franchised. LongRange Capital, a Boston-based firm managing $4.3 billion in committed capital, specializes in underperforming consumer brands with fragmented ownership structures. Yum China is paying $900 million of the purchase price to consolidate its existing franchise rights and expand its operational control across Asia-Pacific markets.
The divestiture allows Yum Brands to concentrate capital on Taco Bell and KFC, which together account for $47 billion in annual system sales and maintain unit-level margins 630 basis points higher than Pizza Hut's trailing twelve-month average. Taco Bell is expanding at 350 net new units annually in the U.S., while KFC is adding 1,100 international locations per year, primarily in India and sub-Saharan Africa. Yum's board authorized a $3 billion share repurchase program funded by sale proceeds, signaling confidence that a two-brand portfolio will drive better shareholder returns than attempting a Pizza Hut turnaround. The company's enterprise value-to-EBITDA multiple compressed to 14.2x over the past eighteen months as investors penalized the conglomerate structure.
LongRange Capital faces immediate restructuring decisions. Pizza Hut's franchise agreements in 34 U.S. states expire within the next 28 months, creating an opportunity to consolidate ownership among fewer, better-capitalized operators. The brand's delivery economics remain 18% less efficient than Domino's on a per-order basis, driven by higher labor costs and slower kitchen throughput. LongRange will likely test limited-service formats and ghost kitchen partnerships in secondary markets where real estate costs are 40-60% lower than traditional dine-in locations. Yum China's portion of the acquisition positions the company to extract cost synergies across its 15,000-unit portfolio, particularly in supply chain logistics and digital ordering infrastructure where Pizza Hut has lagged KFC's platform investments.
Operators should monitor LongRange's franchise re-contracting timeline through Q3 2025, when 1,200 U.S. locations face renewal decisions. Yum Brands will report its first post-sale earnings on May 6, providing clarity on whether management reallocates the entire $2.7 billion to buybacks or reserves capital for Taco Bell's international acceleration. Yum China's next investor day is scheduled for September, where leadership is expected to detail Pizza Hut's repositioning strategy for tier-two Chinese cities where the brand still commands 23% category share.
The sale eliminates Yum's weakest asset thirty-one years after acquiring the brand from PepsiCo, leaving a portfolio with clearer growth vectors and margin visibility that institutional allocators have demanded since 2019.
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For the principal
Track Yum's capital allocation through May earnings—if buybacks exceed $2B, consider reduced exposure to multi-brand restaurant holdcos.
For the operator
LongRange's franchise consolidation creates secondary opportunities in distressed QSR real estate by Q4 when renewals accelerate nationwide.
For the house
Neutral Yum post-sale; initiate small long on Yum China ahead of September investor day detailing Pizza Hut Asia repositioning.
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