Wendy's CoWEN
Wendy's Co Segments Disclosure
Segment Information
The Company is comprised of the following reportable and operating segments: (1) Wendy’s U.S., (2) Wendy’s International and (3) Global Real Estate & Development. Wendy’s U.S. includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in the U.S. and derives its revenues from sales at Company-operated restaurants and royalties, fees and advertising fund collections from franchised restaurants. Wendy’s International includes the operation and franchising of Wendy’s restaurants in countries and territories other than the U.S. and derives its revenues from sales at Company-operated restaurants and royalties, fees and advertising fund collections from franchised restaurants. Global Real Estate & Development includes real estate activity for owned sites and sites leased from third parties, which are leased and/or subleased to franchisees, and also includes our share of the income of our TimWen real estate joint venture. In addition, Global Real Estate & Development earns fees from facilitating Franchise Flips and providing other development-related services to franchisees.
The Company measures profit using segment adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”), which excludes certain unallocated general and administrative expenses and other items that vary from period to period without correlation to the Company’s core operating performance. The Company’s Interim Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer is the chief operating decision maker (the “CODM”) and uses segment adjusted EBITDA predominantly in periodic reviews of performance and during the annual budget and forecasting process. The CODM considers segment adjusted EBITDA when making decisions about allocating resources to the segments. When the CODM reviews
balance sheet information, it is at a consolidated level. The accounting policies of the Company’s segments are the same as those described in Note 1. See Note 3 for a reconciliation of segment revenue to total revenue.
Wendy’s U.S. revenue, significant segment expenses and segment adjusted EBITDA are as follows:
| Year Ended | |||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| Wendy’s U.S. revenue | $ | 1,785,124 | $ | 1,859,745 | $ | 1,815,845 | |||||||||||
| Wendy’s U.S. expense | |||||||||||||||||
| Cost of sales | 761,417 | 755,265 | 767,150 | ||||||||||||||
| Franchise support and other costs | 65,524 | 54,047 | 47,554 | ||||||||||||||
| Advertising fund expense (a) | 384,472 | 441,508 | 396,743 | ||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 84,464 | 79,664 | 75,734 | ||||||||||||||
| Other segment items (b) | 151 | 3,307 | 312 | ||||||||||||||
| Wendy’s U.S. adjusted EBITDA | $ | 489,096 | $ | 525,954 | $ | 528,352 | |||||||||||
_______________
(a)Includes advertising fund expense of $20,000 for 2024 related to the Company’s funding of incremental advertising. There was no funding of incremental advertising during 2025 and 2023.
(b)Other segment items for 2025 primarily include professional fees. Other segment items for 2024 and 2023 primarily include lease buyout activity.
Wendy’s International revenue, significant segment expenses and segment adjusted EBITDA are as follows:
| Year Ended | |||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| Wendy’s International revenue | $ | 152,961 | $ | 144,690 | $ | 130,548 | |||||||||||
| Wendy’s International expense | |||||||||||||||||
| Cost of sales | 30,307 | 27,946 | 27,343 | ||||||||||||||
| Advertising funds expense (a) | 40,896 | 39,330 | 35,604 | ||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 29,680 | 26,048 | 26,226 | ||||||||||||||
| Other segment items (b) | 8,944 | 8,098 | 5,671 | ||||||||||||||
| Wendy’s International adjusted EBITDA | $ | 43,134 | $ | 43,268 | $ | 35,704 | |||||||||||
_______________
(a)Includes advertising fund expense of $713, $1,919 and $2,401 for 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively, related to the Company’s funding of incremental advertising. In addition, includes other international-related advertising deficit of $2,570, $827 and $950 for 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
(b)Other segment items primarily include franchise support and other costs.
Global Real Estate & Development revenue, significant segment expenses and segment adjusted EBITDA are as follows:
| Year Ended | |||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| Global Real Estate & Development revenue | $ | 238,806 | $ | 242,057 | $ | 235,185 | |||||||||||
| Global Real Estate & Development expense | |||||||||||||||||
| Franchise rental expense | 125,773 | 127,446 | 125,371 | ||||||||||||||
| General and administrative | 16,181 | 15,301 | 15,660 | ||||||||||||||
| Other segment items (a) | (13,498) | (9,277) | (9,330) | ||||||||||||||
| Global Real Estate & Development adjusted EBITDA | $ | 110,350 | $ | 108,587 | $ | 103,484 | |||||||||||
_______________
(a)Other segment items primarily include equity in earnings from our TimWen joint venture, franchise support and other costs and gains on sales-type leases for 2025, 2024 and 2023. Other segment items for 2025 also include lease buyout activity. Equity in earnings from our TimWen joint venture was $11,215, $11,607 and $10,819 for 2025, 2024 and 2023, respectively.
The following table reconciles profit by segment to the Company’s consolidated income before income taxes:
| Year Ended | |||||||||||||||||
| 2025 | 2024 | 2023 | |||||||||||||||
| Wendy’s U.S. | $ | 489,096 | $ | 525,954 | $ | 528,352 | |||||||||||
| Wendy’s International | 43,134 | 43,268 | 35,704 | ||||||||||||||
| Global Real Estate & Development | 110,350 | 108,587 | 103,484 | ||||||||||||||
| Total segment adjusted EBITDA | 642,580 | 677,809 | 667,540 | ||||||||||||||
| Unallocated franchise support and other costs | (2,239) | (1,316) | (831) | ||||||||||||||
| Advertising funds surplus | 2,816 | 2,702 | 4,344 | ||||||||||||||
| Unallocated general and administrative (a) | (122,354) | (134,195) | (132,344) | ||||||||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization (exclusive of amortization of cloud computing arrangements shown separately below) | (152,222) | (143,234) | (135,789) | ||||||||||||||
| Amortization of cloud computing arrangements | (18,647) | (14,701) | (12,778) | ||||||||||||||
| System optimization gains, net | 1,030 | 1,219 | 880 | ||||||||||||||
| Reorganization and realignment costs | 125 | (8,528) | (9,200) | ||||||||||||||
| Impairment of long-lived assets | (12,095) | (9,713) | (1,401) | ||||||||||||||
| Unallocated other operating income, net | 4,458 | 1,316 | 1,563 | ||||||||||||||
| Interest expense, net | (126,467) | (123,881) | (124,061) | ||||||||||||||
| (Loss) gain on early extinguishment of debt | (642) | — | 2,283 | ||||||||||||||
| Investment (loss) income, net | (1,718) | 11 | (10,358) | ||||||||||||||
| Other income, net | 12,621 | 24,924 | 29,570 | ||||||||||||||
| Income before income taxes | $ | 227,246 | $ | 272,413 | $ | 279,418 | |||||||||||
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(a)Includes corporate overhead costs, such as employee compensation and related benefits.
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Historical Timeline
| Fiscal Year | Filed | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Feb 23, 2026 | Showing above |
| 2024 | Feb 21, 2025 | |
| 2023 | Feb 26, 2024 | |
| 2022 | Mar 1, 2022 | |
| 2021 | Mar 3, 2021 | |
| 2019 | Feb 26, 2020 | |
About Segments Disclosures
Segment disclosures break a company into its reportable operating units, revealing revenue, profit, and asset allocation that consolidated financial statements obscure. Under ASC 280, segments must match how the chief operating decision maker views the business, providing a window into internal management structure and resource allocation priorities.
Key signals: compare segment margins to identify which units drive profitability and which destroy value. Watch for changes in the number of reportable segments — segment aggregation or disaggregation often coincides with strategic shifts or attempts to obscure declining performance. Intersegment elimination patterns reveal internal pricing practices. The reconciliation between segment totals and consolidated figures exposes corporate overhead allocation and unallocated items. Geographic revenue concentration highlights regulatory and currency exposure. Compare segment-level capital expenditure against segment revenue to assess where management is investing for future growth versus harvesting existing assets.