McDonald’s restaurants are found in 120 countries and territories around the world and serve 68 million customers each day. McDonald’s operates 37,855 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 210,000 people as of the end of 2018. There are currently a total of 2,770 company-owned locations and 35,085 franchised locations, which includes 21,685 locations franchised to conventional franchisees, 7,225 locations licensed to developmental licensees, and 6,175 locations licensed to foreign affiliates.
Focusing on its core brand, McDonald’s began divesting itself of other chains it had acquired during the 1990s. The company owned a majority stake in Chipotle Mexican Grill until October 2006, when McDonald’s fully divested from Chipotle through a stock exchange. Until December 2003, it also owned Donatos Pizza, and it owned a small share of Aroma Café from 1999 to 2001. On August 27, 2007, McDonald’s sold Boston Market to Sun Capital Partners.
Notably, McDonald’s has increased shareholder dividends for 25 consecutive years, making it one of the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats. The company is ranked 131st on the Fortune 500 of the largest United States corporations by revenue. In October 2012, its monthly sales fell for the first time in nine years. In 2014, its quarterly sales fell for the first time in seventeen years, when its sales dropped for the entirety of 1997.
In the United States, it is reported that drive-throughs account for 70 percent of sales. McDonald’s closed down 184 restaurants in the United States in 2015, which was 59 more than what they planned to open. This move was also the first time McDonald’s had a net decrease in the number of locations in the United States since 1970.
The McDonalds on-demand delivery concept, which began in 2017 with a partnership with Uber Eats and added DoorDash in 2019, now accounts for up to 3% of all business as of 2019.
McDonald's 