Will Papa Johns soon have a new owner? Another offer is on the table, according to the Wall Street Journal, but the brand has been down that road a couple of times before.
Irth Capital Management reportedly submitted a new offer of $47 per share, backed by Brookfield Asset Management. The bid represents a 50% premium to the company’s share price prior to the offer.
The offer would value Papa Johns at around $1.5 billion.
Will the pizza giant bite? In remarks during the UBS Global Consumer and Retail Conference on Thursday, Papa Johns CEO Todd Penegor touched briefly on the report. “I really can’t comment any on the market speculation or market rumors….I mean it’s been a constant, right? I’ve been in the role 18 months, and I think [for] almost the full 18 months, we’ve always had some kind of rumor out there around the brand. And we’re really focused on being the best Papa John’s that we can be and the best pizza makers in the business and really working hard to execute the strategy that we’ve laid out.”
After disappointing same-store sales in the third quarter of 2025, Penegor told investors the company was “open-minded about the path” to a buyout. Since earlier in 2026, offers have been reported, including a joint bid worth $60 per share from Irth and Apollo Global Management last summer. Apollo then upped that offer to $64 a share in October, but rescinded it later.
That leaves Papa Johns’ future in question, but it has plowed ahead this year, announcing the release of what it called its biggest pizza ever, the Grand Papa, in November 2025 and bringing back its Pan Pizza in January.
After that disappointing third quarter performance, Papa Johns fared no better in the fourth quarter. Same-store sales declined by 5.5%. For overall 2025, its comp sales fell by 2%, and the average profitability for corporate-owned stores decreased from $150,000 to $135,000.
To right the ship, Papa Johns has said it plans to close 300 North American stores in 2026 and 2027 and has laid off 7% of its corporate team.
Papa Johns told investors that shuttering underperforming restaurants should increase overall AUV by at least 3% and improve franchisee profitability. Also, the company has identified at least $25 million in nonguest-facing corporate cost savings and another $60 million in systemwide supply chain cost savings.
Irth Capital Management was cofounded by Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulla Al Thani and Matthew Bradshaw in 2024 and is backed by a member of the Qatari royal family in Qatar. Sources told the newspaper that Irth holds a roughly 10 percent stake in Papa Johns.
