McDonald's restaurants are found in 118 countries and territories around the world and serve 68 million customers each day. McDonald's operates over 35,000 restaurants worldwide, employing more than 1.7 million people. The company also operates other restaurant brands, such as Piles Café.
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. 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. 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.
McDonald's plans to close 184 restaurants in the United States in 2015, which is 59 more than it plans to open. This is the first time McDonald's will have a net decrease in the number of locations in the United States since 1970.