Wendy’s appoints new CEO amid activist rumors

Nelson Peltz's Trian is rumoured to be mulling a take-private bid.

US fast food chain Wendy’s has named restaurant industry veteran Robert Wright as its new president and CEO amid rumours that activist investor Nelson Peltz is considering a takeover bid.

Wendy's announced the move in a Wednesday press release, citing Wright's "extensive leadership experience across the quick-service restaurant industry."

Most recently, Wright served as president and CEO at sandwich chain Potbelly Corporation, where he led the brand's expansion and development of its digital platform, and oversaw its $566 million sale to convenience-store operator RaceTrac in 2025. Prior to this, he gained experience in multiple senior leadership roles at Wendy's itself, as well as Charleys Philly Steaks, Checkers Drive-In Restaurants, and Domino's Pizza.

As part of the deal, interim CEO Kenneth Cook will continue in his role as CFO.

The company is currently focused on a turnaround programme to improve its menu quality, strengthen restaurant operations, and close underperforming locations. Indeed, it ended 2025 with 5,969 US locations, and expects to close between 5% and 6% of its US restaurants in the first half of 2026. This optimisation strategy netted it a 3.3% increase in revenue in the latest quarter, although this was coupled with a 6.8% decline in same-store sales and a 7.8% drop in the US.

The news comes just weeks after a Financial Times report claimed that Nelson Peltz's activist fund Trian Fund Management, which owns a 16% stake in the company, was holding discussions with outside investors about financing a bid to take Wendy's private.

Neither Wendy's nor Trian have commented on the speculation.

With an enterprise value of $5.1 billion, Wendy's shares were down around 67% over the past five years as at the end of Thursday.

Like this article? Sign up for our free newsletter.