FTC Pumps The Brakes On 7-Eleven With Record Settlement

• The FTC secured a $4.5 million settlement with 7-Eleven, Inc. and its parent company, Seven & i Holdings Co., Ltd. (collectively, "7-Eleven"), to resolve allegations that the convenience store chain violated a 2018 FTC consent order by acquiring a St. Petersburg, Florida fuel outlet without providing the required prior notice to the FTC.
• The 2018 order was imposed to resolve antitrust concerns following 7-Eleven's acquisition of 1,100 Sunoco fuel outlets, which the FTC alleged would harm competition and raise fuel prices in 76 markets. The order required 7-Eleven to divest certain outlets and provide advance notice before acquiring additional outlets in those markets.
• Under the terms of the settlement, 7-Eleven must divest the St. Petersburg outlet to a qualified buyer and must comply with the heightened prior-approval and prior-notice requirements of the 2018 order. In addition, the $4.5 million civil penalty is the largest that the FTC has ever collected for a prior-notice violation and the largest negotiated settlement for any order violation in the Bureau of Competition's history.
• We previously reported on the FTC's filing of the complaint to initiate this enforcement action.

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