This Major Pizza Chain Is Selling For Nearly $3B After Decline In Sales

What we once thought of as a mainstay pizza chain for any American childhood is now undergoing some major changes. Pizza Hut, the brand beloved for its Book It! program, red plastic cups, and vinyl booths, will be sold off by its parent company, Yum! Brands to the tune of $2.7 billion. Pizza Hut had been struggling recently, with 250 underperforming locations shuttering in the first half of 2026. So this news isn't entirely surprising, but it's notable that one of Yum! Brand's flagship chains made it to the chopping block, as it speaks to how much the fast food pizza game has shifted over the years.

Pizza Hut will be split into two parts. In mainland China, it'll be purchased by Yum China Holdings for $1.2 billion, while the rest of the chain will be purchased by private equity company LongRange Capital for $1.5 billion. The sale hasn't finalized yet but is expected to complete in the third quarter of 2026. This is even after efforts to do things differently, such as reformulating some of its base recipes, like its hand-tossed pies.

Though Yum! Brands has held onto Pizza Hut for decades now, something you might not know is that it was once owned by PepsiCo. The company bought the pizza chain in 1977, and after 20 years, the organization now known as Yum! Brands was created as a spinoff. Pizza Hut's current parent company also owns KFC, Taco Bell, and Habit Burger and Grill. (This is why you sometimes used to see hybrid Pizza Hut and Taco Bell locations.) 

Despite Pizza Hut's many years with Yum! Brands — the world's largest restaurant company — Yum!'s leadership determined the best path forward for the pizza chain was to sell it. "Under LongRange and Yum China, Pizza Hut will be well positioned for future growth with ownership that brings deep expertise in the restaurant industry," said Yum! Brands' chief executive officer, Chris Turner, in a press release.

It's unclear whether things will turn around for Pizza Hut, as customers have been cinching their wallets due to the uncertain economy, and the rise of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs is also making people less hungry for calorie-dense options like pizza. Or, perhaps Pizza Hut will successfully catch up to Domino's, which has been performing well due to changes in its marketing and strategies with new items and better delivery services. The Hut's not going away, but with private equity at the helm, changes are sure to come; we'll have to see if any of them actually end up tasting good.