Yum! Brands, Inc. is a major American multinational fast-food corporation headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky. The company was formed in 1997 as Tricon Global Restaurants, Inc. following a spin-off from PepsiCo. It trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol YUM. As one of the world's largest restaurant companies, Yum! Brands reported having nearly 61,000 restaurants in more than 155 countries and territories as of early 2025. The company's trailing twelve-month revenue as of March 2026 was approximately $8.49 billion, with a market capitalization of roughly $41.88 billion. Employee counts vary, with some sources citing around 49,000 employees.
Yum! Brands operates a portfolio of well-known quick-service restaurant chains, primarily through a franchise model. Its core brands are KFC, a global leader in the chicken category; Pizza Hut, a global leader in the pizza category; and Taco Bell, a global leader in the Mexican-inspired food category. The company also owns The Habit Burger & Grill, a fast-casual chain specializing in chargrilled burgers and sandwiches. The vast majority of its restaurants, over 98%, are operated by franchisees.
As a large operating company, Yum! Brands' patent litigation posture is that of a defendant. The provided data shows the company has been a defendant in one tracked patent case and has not appeared as a plaintiff. This pattern is typical for a large corporation defending itself against patent assertions rather than initiating them. The single tracked case, Sampo IP, LLC v. ETrade Financial Corporate Services Inc. et al.*, was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, a venue historically favored by patent plaintiffs.
The 2013 case names Sampo IP, LLC as the plaintiff. Research entities like Unified Patents often characterize plaintiffs with naming conventions like "Sampo IP, LLC" that file numerous cases against operating companies as non-practicing entities (NPEs) or patent assertion entities. In this instance, Yum! Brands was one of many defendants in a broader litigation campaign typical of NPEs.