LOUISVILLE, Ky.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Yum! Brands (NYSE: YUM) today announced that Keith A. Meister, Managing Partner of Corvex Management LP, has elected to step down from its Board of Directors, effective immediately.

Mr. Meister commented, “Serving on the YUM Board has been a tremendous experience. With the China spin‐off successfully executed, and YUM’s capital structure, management team and transformation plans in place, the company is set up for great success. I hold this management team in the highest regard, and believe that under Greg Creed's impressive leadership the company is well on its way to achieving its long-term goals. Yum! Brands has been and will continue to remain one of my firm’s largest holdings, as we see iconic brands, an improving business model and significant free cash flow growth with a high degree of visibility. I want to thank David Novak, Bob Walter, Greg Creed, and the entire YUM Board for giving me the opportunity to serve.”

“Keith has been an invaluable member of the Board as we have undergone a dramatic transformation. His fresh perspectives and his focus on shareholder value were instrumental in helping to develop the company’s current structure and multi‐year growth plan. We look forward to delivering on these commitments as we continue to evolve as the food industry’s leading, focused, global franchisor,” said Bob Walter, Non-Executive Chairman, Yum! Brands.

Yum! Brands’ CEO and member of the Board of Directors, Greg Creed said, “On behalf of everyone at Yum! Brands, I would like to thank Keith for his contributions. We formed a collaborative partnership and were thrilled to see our joint vision for the future of YUM put into place. With the support of Keith, YUM accomplished the successful separation of our China business and established a roadmap for becoming a one-of-a-kind global franchisor with a uniquely powerful and predictable free cash flow growth profile.”

2016 was a landmark year for Yum! Brands as it successfully completed the separation of Yum China as an independent and powerful growth company. In addition, Yum! Brands launched a new multi-year strategic transformation plan to become a more focused, more franchised and more efficient company in order to strengthen and grow its KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell brands around the world.

Yum! Brands, Inc., based in Louisville, Kentucky, has over 43,500 restaurants in more than 135 countries and territories and is one of the Aon Hewitt Top Companies for Leaders in North America. The company's restaurant brands - KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell - are the global leaders of the chicken, pizza and Mexican-style food categories. Worldwide, the Yum! Brands system opens over six new restaurants per day on average, making it a leader in international retail development.

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