The history is very interesting here. As noted in the article, Ito Yokado's chairman set up a new company under Toshifumi Suzuki to create the Japanese 7-Eleven

The history is very interesting here. As noted in the article, Ito Yokado's chairman set up a new company under Toshifumi Suzuki to create the Japanese 7-Eleven. Southland Corporation, which owned 7-Eleven in America initially refused to even speak with them. Eventually it all worked out and 7-Eleven became a hit in Japan, while the fortunes of the company in America did not fare so well. In 1991, when Southland faced bankruptcy, Ito Yokado invested $430mn to take over the company and renamed it to 7-Eleven Inc. How the tables turn.. There is a lot of detail on Wikipedia if you find this sort of thing interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/7-Eleven#History Edit: 430bn → 430mn