In a bid to fend off a $47 billion takeover attempt by Canadian rival Alimentation Couche-Tard, Seven & i Holdings, the parent company of 7-Eleven, announced a major leadership and business overhaul.
The company appointed Stephen Dacus, a veteran American retail executive, as its first foreign-born CEO. Dacus, who brings extensive experience in Japan's retail sector, will assume the role in May.
As part of its restructuring, Seven & i plans to publicly list its North American convenience store business, which operates more than 13,000 7-Eleven locations across the U.S. The company also revealed it will sell non-core retail assets to Bain Capital for approximately $5.5 billion and intends to repurchase over $13 billion worth of shares by 2030 to enhance shareholder value.
The strategic shift follows increasing pressure from activist investors urging Seven & i to spin off its lucrative 7-Eleven division, arguing it would unlock greater value for the sprawling retail group.
The takeover bid by Couche-Tard, the owner of Circle K, is the largest-ever foreign-led attempt to acquire a Japanese company. Meanwhile, a competing buyout proposal led by the founding Ito family recently collapsed due to a failure to secure sufficient financing.
Dacus, who previously held senior roles at Walmart Japan and Fast Retailing, outlined a vision to reposition Seven & i as a global convenience store leader. He emphasized plans to expand the company's high-quality food offerings into overseas markets, particularly the U.S.
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June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.