---
title: "7-Eleven’s Japanese Owner Buying Speedway Gas Stations for $21B After COVID-19 Fallout"
description: "The merger will form a super-network of almost 14,000 convenience stores across America."
date: "2020-08-03"
modified: "2020-08-03"
authors:
  - name: "James Gilboy"
    job_title: "Contributing Writer"
    link: "https://www.thedrive.com/authors/james-gilboy"
url: "https://www.thedrive.com/news/35341/7-elevens-japanese-owner-buying-speedway-gas-stations-for-21m-after-covid-19-fallout"
categories:
  - "News"
---

# 7-Eleven’s Japanese Owner Buying Speedway Gas Stations for $21B After COVID-19 Fallout

![](<https://www.thedrive.com/wp-content/uploads/images-by-url-td/content/2020/08/AP_20216612006924.jpg>)
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At the peak of spring's COVID-19 shutdowns, [gas stations' sudden loss of retail business](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/32838/uk-gas-stations-face-closure-over-low-demand-are-us-stations-next>) made their convenience stores a liability to petroleum companies, who quickly began to dump the assets as dead weight. One megacorp's trash is another's treasure, and Marathon Petroleum's chain of Speedway [gas stations](<https://www.thedrive.com/news/32976/gas-station-price-war-sees-0-62-per-gallon-in-western-new-york>) is a payday for 7-Eleven owners Seven & i Holdings, which announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire the Speedway brand for $21 billion.

The largest acquisition in 7-Eleven corporate history will see some 3,900 Speedway stores across 35 U.S. states link up with 9,800 7-Eleven outlets to form a nationwide network of close to 14,000 stores. Japan's Seven & i notes in its news release that Speedway's retail locations "highly complement the locations of stores of 7-Eleven," and that the combined entity will have a presence in 47 of the States' 50 most populous cities.

Should regulators approve of the merger, which will add thousands of more stores to Seven & i's existing, 69,000-outlet empire, the multibillion-dollar transaction will go through in early 2021. The company's [press release](<https://www.7andi.com/library/dbps_data/_material_/localhost/en/release_pdf/2020_0803_01en.pdf>) does not mention a rebranding of Speedway stations as 7-Elevens, so the brands may remain distinct, even if their ownership doesn't.

The acquisition comes despite Seven & i reporting a steep decline in revenue due to the effects of COVID-19 shutdowns, with profit plunging 73 percent to $131 million in the quarter ending in May per [*Forbes*](<https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/08/03/7-eleven-owner-agrees-to-buy-gas-station-chain-speedway-for-21-billion/#29a9afa253d5>). Profitability is expected to slowly rebuild, though the fiscal year's outlook is still expected to dip 45 percent to $1.1 billion in profit.

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## Author
James is a former staff writer for The Drive. He has changed the conversation around electrification, debunked misinformation online, and become a prominent hunter of what he calls "automotive cryptids."

### Author social links  
[Instagram](<https://instagram.com/jamesgilboy>)