With AmEx Deal, 7-Eleven Becomes an ATM Networking Power

7-Eleven Inc., the nation's largest convenience-store chain, has acquired the ATM network deployed in its stores from American Express Co. for $44 million. The network connects some 5,483 machines in stores owned, franchised, and licensed by Dallas-based 7-Eleven. The acquisition positions the chain as a major player in electronic funds transfer. “ATM services are an important offering for the convenience customer, and we believe this acquisition will complement our strategy to accelerate growth in the area of financial services,” said Jim Keyes, 7-Eleven's president and chief executive officer, in a statement. “With our significant customer traffic and convenient locations, control of the ATMs will allow us to better integrate this valuable service into our overall merchandising efforts within the store.” 7-Eleven also operates a 3-year-old network of transaction kiosks in its stores that function as ATMs and also sell money orders, cash checks, and perform wire transfers. The network, called Vcom, links 1,000 kiosks. AmEx had acquired the 7-Eleven network four years ago from EDS Corp. in a deal that made the New York-based financial-services company the nation's second largest ATM owner. Now, though, AmEx is winding down its ATM network. The sale to 7-Eleven represents the second major divestiture of a non-bank ATM system in the past three months. E*Trade Financial Corp., a New York-based online banking and brokerage company, in June sold its network of 13,100 merchant-based machines to Houston-based Cardtronics Inc. for $106 million in a deal that pushed Cardtronics' network to 25,000 ATMs and made it the country's largest ATM operator (Digital Transactions News, June 3). 7-Eleven operates or franchises approximately 5,800 stores in the United States and Canada and licenses another 20,800 stores in 17 other countries and U.S. territories internationally.