global restaurants type public traded as nyse yum s & p 500 component industry restaurants founded 1997 headquarters louisville kentucky united states area served worldwide key people robert d. walter non executive chairman greg creed ceo david gibbs cfo revenue us 13.105 billion 2015 1 operating income us 1.921 billion 2015 1 net income us 1.293 billion 2015 1 total assets us 8.075 billion 2015 1 total equity us 969 million 2015 1 number of employees approximately 505 000 as of december 2015 1 divisions china india subsidiaries kfc pizza hut taco bell wingstreet yum restaurants international yum restaurants india yum restaurants china website www.yum.com yum brands inc. or yum and formerly tricon global restaurants inc. is an american fast food company . a fortune 500 corporation yum operates the licensed brands taco bell kfc pizza hut and wingstreet worldwide . prior to 2011 yum also owned long john silver s and a & w restaurants . based in louisville kentucky it is one of the world s largest fast food restaurant companies in terms of system units with 42 692 restaurants including 8 927 that are company owned 796 that are unconsolidated affiliates 30 930 that are franchised and 2 039 that are licensed around the world in over 130 countries . 1 in 2015 yum s global sales totaled us 13.105 billion . contents 1 history 1.1 tricon global restaurants 1.2 yum brands 1.3 international focus 2 corporate 3 brands 3.1 current 3.2 former 4 see also 5 references 6 external links history edit tricon global restaurants edit yum was created on may 30 1997 as tricon global restaurants inc. from pepsico s fast food division as the parent corporation of kfc pizza hut and taco bell restaurant companies . 2 3 tricon global was spun out in late 1997 . tricon selected louisville kentucky as its headquarters moving near the kfc restaurant support center from the pepsi hq in purchase new york by early 1998 . 3 tricon global in 2000 agreed to test multi branded locations with yorkshire global restaurants . by march 2002 the tricon yorkshire multibranding test consisted of 83 kfc a & ws six kfc long john silver s and three taco bell long john silver s and was considered successful by the companies . 4 in 2001 kfc started a test in austin texas restaurants of wing works chicken wing line sold with one of a few flavored sauces . also kfc hired a consultant to develop a breakfast menu . 5 yum brands edit in march 2002 tricon announced the acquisition of lexington kentucky based yorkshire global restaurants owner of the long john silver s and a & w restaurants 6 chains and its intention to change the company s name to yum brands inc. on may 16 2002 the name change became effective after a vote during the company s annual shareholders meeting and on june 17 2002 yum executed a two for one stock split . shortly afterwards due to yum s lifetime contract with pepsi long john silver s and a & w restaurants both of which previously served coca cola products began gradually switching to pepsi products with a & w restaurants retaining a & w root beer from a separate deal with dr pepper seven up now dr pepper snapple group . in 2002 yum began testing co branding locations pairing pizza hut with pasta bravo back yard burgers and a & w. 7 the pasta bravo concept was acquired in 2003 from pasta bravo inc. of aliso viejo calif for 5 million to pair with pizza hut . 8 in 2003 yum launched wingstreet as a hybrid combo unit with an existing pizza hut franchise . 9 in 2007 and 2008 a thousand wingstreet stores a year were opened . on october 19 2009 company president scott bergren publicize wingstreet s national launch . 9 an east dawning test cafeteria style restaurant was opened in shanghai in 2004 . after initially failing yum brands chose the kfc business model kfc is the most successful western chain in china and found greater success . 10 as of september 30 2007 eight east dawning restaurants were in operation . 11 international focus edit a single yum restaurant facility co branded as taco bell and kfc in san francisco california another cobranded kfc and taco bell in oscoda michigan in january 2011 yum announced its intentions to divest itself of its long john silver s and a & w brands to focus on its core brands of kfc pizza hut and taco bell . for the decade leading up to the company s announcement major growth had relied on international expansion . with little presence outside north america the two chains no longer fit in the company s long term growth plans . 12 the foreign expansion particularly that of taco bell kfc and pizza hut was cited in the firm s january 18 2011 announcement of its intention to sell the a & w and long john silver s chains . both of those chains also suffered from poor sales and had fewer locations compared to the other chains in the yum brands portfolio . in september 2011 yum announced they had found buyers for the a & w and ljs chains . a great american brand will buy a & w and ljs will be acquired by ljs partners llc . 6 in may 2011 yum agreed to purchase mainland chinese hot pot chain little sheep for hk 4.56 billion . 13 the deal spent more than 4 months in anti trust review by the chinese ministry of commerce to determine whether or not the transaction would result in a monopolistic positioning of yum in the country s restaurant industry . the ministry approved the deal in november 2011 according to little sheep representatives . 14 in 2012 a kfc opened in ramallah and became the first american fast food restaurant to operate in the west bank ; a pizza hut is also planned . 15 in 2013 a few kfc locations in china supplied chicken found to contain excess levels of chemical residue . yum has lost 6 % of sales from publicity in china as of january 25 . 16 the company opened its first restaurant in ulaanbaatar mongolia in may 2013 . for mongolia kfc is the first western fast food to open its doors in the country . the company is planning to open 15 more restaurants in ulaanbaatar in the next 5 years including the country s first drive thru service . 17 yum brands has also opened taco bell and pizza hut restaurants in newer target stores . yum brands opened its 40 000th store in calangute goa india in october 2013 . 18 in 2013 its kfc subsidiary opened a fast casual version kfc eleven test location in louisville ky on bardstown road . 19 in the third quarter of 2013 yum brands had to book an impairment of the goodwill resulting from the takeover of little sheep in 2011 in the amount of 222 million which reduced profits for 2013 . 20 in 2014 yum launched a number of additional restaurant test concepts super chix u.s. taco co. and banh shop . 21 yum opened super chix in central arlington texas that is similar in format to chick fil a on april 9 2014 . 22 in the summer of 2014 yum s taco bell subsidiary launched its u.s. taco co and urban tap room fast casual taco concept restaurant in huntington beach california to take on fast casual restaurants like chipotle and panera . 23 in the first quarter of 2015 third point management and corvex management separately acquired an unspecified stake in the company . 24 the sole kfc eleven was closed in april 2015 . 19 a second chix unit opened in may 2015 with additional menu items . super chix was sold to founder nick ouimet and an investment group in august 2015 . 21 corporate edit the kfc yum center louisville s largest arena the current executive chairman of yum brands is david c. novak . 25 novak became ceo of predecessor firm tricon global on january 1 2000 and chairman of the board on january 1 2001 . 26 greg creed replaced novak in his role as ceo on january 1 2015 . 27 at the agm in may 2016 robert d. walter became non executive chairman . on october 20 2015 yum brands inc. announced that it intends to separate into two independent publicly traded companies . yum china will be spun off during 2016 . 28 since 2006 yum brands has served as the corporate sponsor of the kentucky derby . 29 brands edit current edit banh shop 21 east dawning 10 kfc incl . xl variant little sheep 14 pizza hut taco bell wingstreet 9 former edit a & w restaurants sold to a great american brand llc a consortium of a & w franchisees in 2011 6 d angelo sandwich shops sold to papa gino s in 1997 hot n now acquired by pepsico in 1990 placed under the taco bell branch . now mostly defunct with only 1 out of 150 remaining in sturgis michigan long john silver s sold to ljs partners long john silver s franchisees and other private investors in 2011 6 pasta bravo super chix 21 see also edit louisville portal companies portal food portal list of major employers in louisville kentucky references edit a b c d e f g yum brands annual report 2015 pdf . yum.com . retrieved 2016 04 17 . yum brands inc yum company profile . reuters.com . reuters . retrieved 2014 10 03 . a b johnson greg august 1 1997 . taco bell s parent to be based in louisville ky. . los angeles times . retrieved november 9 2015 . tricon global restaurants announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire long john silver s and a & w all american food restaurants owned by yorkshire global restaurants press release . tricon global restaurants . bison.com . march 2002 . retrieved november 9 2015 . kfc taps seinfeld star starts wing works test . nation s restaurant news . lebhar friedman . august 6 2001 . retrieved 2011 01 26 . a b c d yum sells 2 fast food chains . new york times . 2011 09 22 . pizza hut pasta bravo test co branding . entrepreneur . nation s restaurant news . august 6 2002 . retrieved november 10 2015 . yum buys pasta bravo rights for p. hut pairings . nation s restaurant news . lebhar friedman . april 14 2003 . retrieved 2011 01 26 . a b c cyrek christopher october 20 2009 . pizza hut going after wings market . dallas business journal . dallas texas american city business journals inc. retrieved 2011 01 26 . a b adamy j. 2006 10 20 . one u.s. chain s unlikely goal pitching chinese food in china . the wall street journal . yum brands defining global company that feeds the world . yum puts a & w long john silver s up for sale . msnbc . associated press . 18 january 2011 . retrieved 20 january 2011 . jin tony october 27 2011 . uncertainty surfaces over yum s takeover of little sheep . china perspective . retrieved november 11 2015 . a b guang yin november 8 2011 . china corporate news yum s little sheep takeover review cleared . china perspective . retrieved november 11 2015 . american fried chicken comes to the palestinian territories los angeles times 04 02 2012 access date 20 02 2012 yum brands chicken in china contained excessive chemical levels report says . business first . 25 january 2013 . retrieved 26 january 2013 . yum brands expands to mongolia plans more growth . business first . 29 may