Papa John’s May Be Leaving The Market With Extra Cheese

Papa John’s gave investors a much more interesting headline than same-store sales on Wednesday when a fresh acquisition bid landed. Qatari-backed Irth Capital offered $47 per share to buy the company, a proposal that would value Papa John’s at about $1.5 billion. Irth already owns roughly 10% of the company, and the stock jumped nearly 20% after the news hit before finishing the day at $38.86. The reaction made clear that private money saw something more appetizing than the market had been showing.

The bid also revives a storyline that never fully left the table. Apollo Global had previously pursued Papa John’s, first alongside Irth and later on its own, before withdrawing a $64-per-share offer in November. Now Irth is back without Apollo, this time with backing from Brookfield Asset Management, and Papa John’s is again weighing whether its next chapter looks better outside the public market. When multiple bidders keep circling the same pizza box, investors tend to notice that the brand may be worth more than public trading has lately implied.

That interest is arriving while Papa John’s is still very much a work in progress. The company recently reported 2025 revenue of about $2.05 billion, essentially flat year over year, while net income fell to $32 million from $84 million. North America comparable sales were weak, and management’s 2026 outlook calls for North America comps to be down 2% to 4%, though the company is also pursuing at least $25 million in corporate cost savings through 2027, about $60 million in supply chain savings, and says its strong balance sheet is supporting its transformation efforts. Papa John’s is still trying to fix the recipe in public, and Irth appears to believe it might be more profitable to do that in private.

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