PZZA Stock Rallies After Hours On Report Of Largest US Franchisee Joining $1.5B Buyout Push

• Qatari-backed investment fund Irth Capital, already one of Papa John’s top five investors with roughly a 10% stake, has offered $47 per share for the business.
• The company’s board and management were recently informed of Bajwa’s participation, Reuters reported.
• Papa John’s is reviewing Irth’s offer, a source told Reuters, while adding that there is no assurance that it would result in a deal.

Papa John’s (PZZA) shares jumped 9% in after-hours trading on Thursday after the pizza chain’s largest U.S. franchisee reportedly joined an investor group led by Irth Capital in a bid to take the company private.

Nadeem Bajwa, whose Bajco Group operates nearly 300 Papa John’s restaurants — about 10% of the chain’s domestic locations — plans to make a significant investment in the proposed buyout, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Qatari-backed investment fund Irth Capital, already one of Papa John’s top five investors with roughly a 10% stake, has offered $47 per share for the business. That price represents a 44% premium to Thursday’s closing price of $32.72.

PZZA’s Sale Efforts

The company’s board and management were recently informed of Bajwa’s participation, Reuters reported. Papa John’s has been in active discussions about a potential sale for more than a year.

"It is highly unusual to see this kind of cooperation between a franchisee and a bidder and this should give comfort to management and investors ‌that Irth's ⁠bid, backed by Brookfield, is real and that there is a way forward for this company," Peter da Silva Vint, managing partner at consulting firm Jasper Street, told Reuters.

In March, The Wall Street Journal reported that Irth Capital Management has submitted a bid to take the pizza chain private. The takeover bid reportedly values Papa John’s at about $1.5 billion.

Papa John’s is reviewing Irth’s offer, a source told Reuters, while adding that there is no assurance that it would result in a deal. For Irth, it is its second attempt to acquire Papa John's, after it reportedly made a bid last year alongside private-equity firm Apollo Global Management.

Papa John’s Financials

Papa John's International reported total revenues of $478.6 million for the first quarter of 2026, a 7.7% decline from $518.3 million in the prior-year period, primarily due to lower North American performance that more than offset gains in international markets.

Global system-wide restaurant sales fell 3% to $1.2 billion, with global comparable sales down 4%. North America comparable sales decreased 6.4%, while international comparable sales grew 3.6%, marking six straight quarters of positive growth abroad. Adjusted earnings per share for the quarter, meanwhile, came in at $0.32, missing Wall Street estimates.

The quarter highlighted ongoing hardships for Papa John's, especially in North America, where cautious consumers amid economic pressures led to lower order volumes, reduced new customer acquisition, and a shift toward smaller, less expensive pizzas amid intense promotional activity from competitors in the quick-service restaurant space.

These challenges were compounded by the impact of refranchising 85 domestic company-owned restaurants in late 2025, which reduced reported revenues, as well as restructuring costs of $4.3 million tied to the company's Enterprise Transformation Plan, which includes closing additional underperforming stores, cutting the corporate workforce, among other measures to ramp savings.

How Did PZZA Retail Traders React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around PZZA stock stayed within the ‘extremely bullish’ territory over the past 24 hours, while message volume remained at ‘high’ levels.

A Stocktwits user opined that the latest update confirms that the buyout is “real” this time.

Another user expressed hopes for the business getting bought out for over $47/ share.

PZZA stock is down by about 19% over the past 12 months. 

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