Yum! Brands might have found a potential buyer for Pizza Hut

Yum! is in exclusive talks with private equity firm LongRange Capital about a sale, per reports.

Toward the end of last year, Yum! Brands, the behemoth behind KFC, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut, set tongues wagging in the fast-food world by announcing it was exploring “a range of strategic options” for the latter brand, to help the pizza business “realize its full value.”

Now, with Reuters reporting that private equity firm LongRange Capital is in exclusive talks to potentially snap up the slice giant, it appears that the Hut reaching its true potential might mean doing so in separation from the Yum! Brands family.

Pie in the sky

While Pizza Hut might have established itself as a mainstay in the unending American pizza chain wars — opening its first branch in Kansas almost 70 years ago and ballooning to see its global store count reach just shy of 20,000 at the latest yearly count — the brand has undoubtedly lost some of its shine of late, especially alongside the impressive company it keeps under the Yum! umbrella.

Yum! Brands system sales chart — Sherwood News

In 2025, Pizza Hut actually saw its systemwide sales slip for the second year in a row, down 2.4% to $12.8 billion, while the division’s same-store sales have also either sunk or stagnated for nine consecutive quarters now, as competition in America’s crowded pizza market heats up and Yum! continues to shut Huts or restore old-school interiors to try and retain some of the chain’s former glory in the US and beyond.

Taco Bell, on the other hand, as the home of the fastest drive-thrus in America and the ever-important Crunchwrap, has been growing its sales figures in recent years. The cheaper chain has, at times, looked like a sole hope in the Yum! portfolio, leapfrogging Pizza Hut as its second-biggest brand for the first time in 2021 and not looking back since.

Taco Bell’s $18.4 billion systemwide sales figure for the last fiscal year is made even more impressive by the Mexican-inspired chain’s comparatively low store count, hauling in over $5.5 billion more than Pizza Hut in 2025 despite having less than half as many units around the world.

Hyunsoo Rim

hot dogs & half tanks

Costco’s gas stations are breaking records as drivers seek cheaper fuel

Higher prices have pushed many members to the retailer’s pumps for the first time.

Max Knoblauch5/29/26

The Trump administration is reportedly planning a 50% made-in-America requirement for USMCA tariff relief

Qualifying for USMCA-related lower tariffs may soon require more US-made vehicle components, according to reporting by The Wall Street Journal.

The Trump administration is reportedly planning to introduce a 50% US content requirement for vehicles covered by the trade pact to receive lower tariffs. The content would be measured by cost, according to the WSJ.

There currently isn’t any US-specific requirement for those lower tariff rates, but in order to receive preferential tariffs, vehicles are must contain at least 75% regional content (components made in North America). Per Reuters reporting, the Trump admin is seeking to raise the regional requirement to 82%.

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Overall, Tesla will likely have the easiest time qualifying for any stricter requirements. The automaker’s vehicles contained the highest amount of US/Canadian content in 2025, according to American University research. Ford, GM, and Stellantis all scored lower.

Notably: the underlying government data that many domestic content measurements rely on intentionally combines US and Canadian components, so it’s difficult to know exactly how much of any given vehicle is specifically US-made.

Exclusive | Trump Administration Wants Autos Under USMCA to Be at Least 50% Made in America

These reported plans are subject to change as the US negotiates USMCA terms with Mexico over the next few months.

Tom Jones5/29/26

The $640,000 Luce makes the average Ferrari look like a bargain

Put aside the shape; put aside the smoothing out of Ferrari’s iconic sharp edges; put aside, even, the calls from former Chairman and President Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to “take the Prancing Horse off.” On the grounds of price alone, Luce detractors might have a point.

By now, many of us will have read the criticisms of Ferrari’s first fully electric vehicle, as the Luce — which was unveiled to the world earlier this week and promptly saw the company’s shares crash out in New York and Milan — gets subtly shaded by competitors online and not-so-subtly shaded by basically everyone else.

What makes all of this worse for Ferrari is that, even by the luxury car maker’s notoriously high standards, they’ve slapped a pretty hefty price tag on the Luce, and the company’s CEO, Benedetto Vigna, has already been forced to defend the €550,000 ($640,000) price point, saying yesterday that it’s “fair to pay for innovation,” per Reuters.

While Ferrari’s cars have been getting more expensive of late, as recently as 2022, Ferrari’s average revenue per car sold was around $340,000. At nearly twice that price, this new electric model is obviously proving a little much (visually, conceptually, and financially) for many loyal and long-standing fans of the Prancing Horse to stomach.