Yum! Brands has agreed to sell Pizza Hut in a $2.7 billion transaction split between two buyers: Yum China picks up the mainland China Pizza Hut locations, and private equity firm LongRange Capital acquires the US and remaining international units. Pizza Hut has been the weakest leg of the Yum portfolio for years, lagging KFC and Taco Bell on same-store sales and margin, making the divestiture a meaningful portfolio cleanup for a company reporting $8.2B in revenue (+8.8% YoY) at a 19.0% net margin.

The deal accelerates Yum's push toward a pure-play asset-light franchisor model, which historically commands higher multiples. The key questions now are: how much of the $2.7B flows back to shareholders via buybacks or special dividends, whether the deal closes without regulatory friction in China, and whether the remaining KFC/Taco Bell portfolio can reaccelerate same-store sales enough to fill the narrative gap Pizza Hut leaves behind.