Is Subway for sale for 10 billion?

Have you got ten billion euros of pocket money to spare? Then you might want to buy Subway: the sandwich chain is reportedly looking for a new owner.

37,000 restaurants

Subway has already hired advisers to explore a possible sale, the Wall Street Journal reports. The process is still at an early stage, but the chain is said to already know it is worth more than ten billion dollars (roughly the same amount in euros). Rumours about a Subway sale already surfaced back in 2021, but the chain denied at the time.

Subway is continuing to work on its transformation that it started in 2019. The fast-food chain has indeed been revamping itself: poorly performing locations are being closed, the menu has been tweaked and shops modernised. This is paying off, as the chain with more than 37,000 restaurants in over 100 countries said it achieved record sales last autumn.

Still family-owned

After being founded by Fred DeLuca in 1965, Subway has remained in family control for more than five decades. DeLuca gave the helm to his sister after his leukaemia diagnosis in 2015, who four years later brought in John Chidsey (a former Burger King CEO) to become the first CEO from outside the family.

While Subway could be an interesting party for private equity firms and corporate buyers, the business newspaper readily admits that another choice may be made. If a deal does materialise, it would be one of the biggest acquisitions in the fast-food industry. A previous topper was the sale of donut formula Dunkin’ for 11.3 billion dollars in 2020.