• by Teresa Buyikian , April 1, 2025

Companies don’t always announce the departure of their CEOs, much less issue a release a year before the person actually exits the building. But then again, not many companies can say their CEO has worked for the company for more than 36 years.

This week Yum Brands, parent of Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, KFC and The Habit,  announced that CEO David Gibbs will retire in 2026 after almost four decades with the company. He has served as CEO since Jan. 2020 and, per the announcement, will continue leading Yum throughout the search process in the first quarter of next year.

Gibbs led Yum’s digital transformation, successfully navigating the company through the COVID-19 pandemic and ultimately made “the company a top performer in the restaurant industry,” according to the announcement. During his tenure,” digital sales surpassed $30 billion in 2024, with over 50% of sales through digital channels, and the pace of annual net new unit development tripled, leading to more than 61,000 restaurant units worldwide.”

Gibbs began his career at Yum as a real estate manager for Taco Bell, and held various positions over the years, including CFO of Yum and Pizza Hut, and CEO of Pizza Hut.

“Along with the entire board of directors, I commend David for his dedication to Yum Brands and applaud his transformative impact on the company – not just in his time as CEO, but throughout the entirety of his nearly four-decade career with Yum Brands,” said Brian Cornell, non-executive chairman of the Yum Brands board of directors.

As for Gibbs’s replacement, the company’s board stated that there is an “established planning committee and will work deliberately to identify and appoint the best candidate to lead the company’s next chapter.”

"Yum has a deep bench of talent ... that we believe will lead the company to pick an internal hire," TD Cowen analyst Andrew Charles commented to Reuters.

 “Given that Yum has plenty of time to plan for the leadership change, we anticipate a smooth transition," Morningstar research analyst David Swartz noted. "However, Gibbs is a Yum lifer, having held various positions at the company since he joined Taco Bell in a real estate role in 1989, so it may be difficult to replace his experience.”