7-Eleven Faces FTC Penalty Over Florida Store Acquisition
IRVING, Texas — The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit against 7-Eleven Inc. on Dec. 4, alleging that the convenience store operator violated a 2018 FTC consent order by acquiring a fuel outlet in Petersburg, Fla., without providing the agency prior notice. Its parent company Seven & i Holdings Co. Ltd. was also named in the filing.
The federal complaint states that 7-Eleven's purchase of the St. Petersburg outlet violated the consent order, was anticompetitive, and likely allowed 7-Eleven to charge higher fuel prices at locations near the St. Petersburg location.
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The FTC seeks a civil penalty for a four-year violation period, starting from when 7-Eleven acquired the fuel outlet without giving the required notice. The convenience retailer could owe a maximum penalty of more than $77 million.
The consent order stems from 7-Eleven's 2018 acquisition of 1,100 retail fuel outlets and convenience stores from Sunoco. 7-Eleven and its parent company agreed to the order to settle FTC charges that the deal would harm competition for gas and diesel fuel in certain local markets, resulting in consumers paying higher fuel prices, as Convenience Store News previously reported.
The consent order prohibited 7-Eleven from acquiring Sunoco fuel outlets in many of those local markets, including the one surrounding the acquired St. Petersburg location in the Tampa, Fla., metropolitan area. It also required 7-Eleven to serve the FTC notice before acquiring any interest in specific third-party retail fuel outlets in certain local markets for 10 years.
Additionally, the agreement included an asset maintenance order and allowed the commission to appoint a monitor trustee.
According to the compliant, 7-Eleven's acquisition of the St. Petersburg outlet was an undisputed violation of the 2018 consent order because the site was specifically listed as an outlet that could not be acquired without first providing prior notice to the FTC. 7-Eleven allegedly submitted false compliance reports to the agency related to the acquisition.
The FTC is seeking civil penalties for the violation to protect the public interest and deter both 7-Eleven, a "serial acquirer" of retail fuel outlets across the country, and other entities from flouting future consent orders, according to the complaint.
The FTC's complaint is available here.
According to 7-Eleven, the acquisition of the St. Petersburg site was an error that it has already taken action to correct.
"We are aware of the lawsuit filed today by the Federal Trade Commission. We have been working in good faith with the FTC to rectify an oversight involving one store in St. Petersburg, Florida," the company stated. "Not only did we self-report to the FTC after discovering this unintentional error, but we also then divested this store expeditiously. We hope this matter can be resolved quickly and fairly."
Irving-based 7-Eleven Inc. operates, franchises and/or licenses more than 15,000 stores in the United States, Canada and Mexico. Seven-Eleven Japan Co. Ltd. operates and franchises more than 21,000 stores in Japan.