Yum Brands CEO announces retirement

Yum Brands CEO David Gibbs announced Monday that he plans to retire from the company in the first quarter of 2026.

Gibbs, 62, is a 36-year veteran of Louisville, Kentucky-based Yum Brands, which is the world’s largest restaurant company. Yum owns the Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger & Grill brands and has 61,000 restaurants in more than 155 countries.

Gibbs will continue to lead the company during the search process for the new CEO.

Yum Brands, the parent company of KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Habit Burger & Grill, has designated two brand headquarters in the U.S., with Taco Bell and Habit Burger & Grill remaining in Irvine, while KFC and Pizza Hut are based in Plano, Texas.

Gibbs became Yum Brands’ CEO in January 2020, then navigated the company through the pandemic and the bumpy years that followed. He focused on new store development. In 2024, the company opened 4,535 new stores in more than 100 countries. That compares to 2,040 new store openings in 2019.

Gibbs also updated technology in stores. Earlier this month, Yum signed an industry-first deal with the artificial intelligence and computing company Nvidia, which will work with Yum on automated ordering at drive-thrus and call centers and computer-enhanced operation plans in restaurants.

Huawei’s profit falls 28%; revenue up

Chinese telecoms gear giant Huawei said Monday its net profit fell 28% in 2024 while its revenue surged, as the company invested heavily in advanced technologies.

Huawei Technologies reported 62.6 billion yuan ($8.6 billion) in net profit last year, down from 87 billion yuan the year before. Its revenue jumped 22% to $118.2 billion, with the strongest growth in its consumer goods and automotive-related sales.

The company, based in Shenzhen, said the decline in profit was mainly due to two factors, “We continued to increase our future-oriented investment and there were no gains from the sale of businesses.”

One of China’s first global tech brands, Huawei said its spending on research and development amounted to more than a fifth of its revenues, and more than half its workforce, or 113,000 people, are employed in R&D.

Stocks sink as markets weigh tariffs

Stocks around the world slipped Monday as investors braced for a week of market tumult, driven by uncertainty about the scope of President Donald Trump’s next round of tariffs on America’s biggest trading partners.

The S&P 500 fell about 1%, extending recent losses, before paring back some of its decline by midday. The index is on track for its worst month since September 2022, a reflection of concerns that Trump’s tariffs could recharge inflation, dampen consumer sentiment and prompt a slowdown in U.S. economic growth. The benchmark index again approached a decline of 10% from its Feb. 19 peak, a downturn considered a market “correction” by Wall Street.

The technology-heavy Nasdaq composite index, which has already slipped into a correction, dropped roughly 1% Monday.

Since taking office a little over two months ago, Trump has kept investors and companies guessing with a haphazard rollout of what he calls an “America first” trade policy. He has threatened, imposed, and in some cases then paused the start of new tariffs on goods coming into the United States.

Whiplash over trade policy has fueled market volatility in the first quarter of the year. Trump’s next round of tariffs, set to be unveiled Wednesday, is looming large, risking more swings until investors have the clarity they are seeking, analysts said.

Compiled from New York Times and Associated Press reports