Yum! Brands sells Plano-based Pizza Hut in $2.7 billion deal

Pizza Hut’s $2.7 billion sale marks more than a corporate reshuffle for Plano. It puts one of the city’s best-known headquarters names into a new ownership structure, with LongRange Capital taking the brand’s business outside mainland China and Yum China Holdings taking the mainland China operation.

Yum! Brands announced the definitive agreements on June 16, saying the deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2026 if regulators approve it. The company said it began reviewing strategic options for Pizza Hut in November 2025 and concluded that a sale would best maximize shareholder value while setting the chain up for long-term growth.

For Collin County, the bigger question is what stays in Plano. Pizza Hut’s corporate office is listed at 7100 Corporate Drive, and Yum! Brands designated Plano in February 2025 as one of its two U.S. brand headquarters, with Pizza Hut and KFC global headquarters functions there. The company did not spell out any immediate changes to the local office footprint, but the transaction does shift ownership of a brand whose identity has long been tied to North Texas corporate life.

The numbers show why Yum! Brands wanted a reset. Pizza Hut operates more than 13,500 restaurants in over 100 countries and generates about $20 billion in annual systemwide sales. Yet the chain has faced years of pressure as Domino’s gained market share and third-party delivery apps changed how people order pizza. Coverage of Yum’s earnings call said Pizza Hut’s U.S. same-store sales fell 1% in the fourth quarter and for full-year 2025, and Yum had already said it would close about 250 underperforming U.S. locations in the first half of 2026 under its Hut Forward strategy.

Under the deal, Yum! expects about $2.3 billion in net proceeds after taxes, closing adjustments and transaction fees, plus the chance to earn another $75 million by 2030. The company also said some of the financial benefits will support KFC China system sales growth and Taco Bell growth plans in mainland China. Yum! Brands’ board also approved an additional $4 billion share repurchase authorization.

Yum China said the purchase should be immediately accretive to diluted earnings per share starting in 2026 after closing. It said Pizza Hut China has 4,375 restaurants in more than 1,100 cities and aims to top 6,000 stores by 2028 while doubling operating profit by 2029 from 2024 levels.

Pizza Hut’s roots stretch far beyond Plano. Brothers Dan and Frank Carney started the chain in Wichita, Kansas, in 1958, and it went public in 1969. The brand lost its title as the world’s biggest pizza chain to Domino’s in 2017, but in Plano it still remains a marquee corporate name, and this sale determines who will steer its next chapter.