OREANDA-NEWS  The Subway fast food restaurant chain has hired consultants to explore the possibility of selling the business, The Wall Street Journal writes, citing knowledgeable sources. Information about this was confirmed by a source to Reuters.

Subway is a closed company that has never been traded on the stock exchange, it develops a chain of restaurants according to the franchisee system. Since its foundation in 1965, it has been owned by two families of its founders — Fred De Luca and Peter Buck.

According to the WSJ, the study of the possibility of selling the business is at an early stage, the final decision on attracting investors has not yet been made. According to preliminary estimates, the company's value may be $10 billion (for comparison, the market capitalization of the McDonald's chain is more than $195 billion).