With sales dropping, Pizza Hut restaurant chain to be sold in $2.7 billion deal

Private equity firm LongRange Capital will purchase Pizza Hut from parent company Yum Brands for approximately $1.5 billion.

The chain has long struggled to be viable among growing competition from delivery options. While Yum Brands' global sales grew 5% last year, Pizza Hut's sales dropped 2%, the Associated Press reported. 

The deal excludes the chain's mainland China business, which Yum China Holdings Inc. will buy for $1.2 billion. The Chinese market accounts for 19% of Pizza Hut's sales. 

In February, Yum Brands announced it would close 250 locations in the U.S. At the end of last year, Pizza Hut had 19,974 locations worldwide. 

Pizza Hut was founded in 1969 and within a couple of years, it was the top chain in the world by sales. PepsiCo purchased the chain in 1977 but spun off its restaurant division into Yum Brands in 1997. Competition from Dominoes, which offered a 30-minute delivery, hit Pizza Hut's dine-in model hard. Delivery apps Door Dash and Uber Eats added more delivery competition in recent years.