Qurate Retail Group

Qurate Retail, Inc.
FormerlyLiberty Interactive Corporation (2011–2018)
TypePublic
ISIN
IndustryMedia holding company
PredecessorLiberty Media
Founded1991; 33 years ago (1991)
HeadquartersWest Chester, Pennsylvania, U.S.[1]
Key people
John C. Malone (Chairman)
David Rawlinson II
(President and CEO)
Jeffery A. Davis (CFO)[2]
RevenueIncrease US$14.177 billion (2020)
Increase US$1.572 billion (2020)
Increase US$1.204 billion (2020)
Total assetsDecrease US$16.999 billion (2020)
Total equityDecrease US$3.733 billion (2020)
OwnerJohn C. Malone (6.7%)
Number of employees
28,255[3] (2017)
DivisionsList of divisions
Websitequrateretailgroup.com
Footnotes / references
[4]

Qurate Retail, Inc., also known as Qurate Retail Group, is an American media conglomerate controlled by company chairman John C. Malone, who owns a majority of the voting shares.

History

1998 launch by Liberty Media

Liberty Interactive logo

Originally a division of Liberty Media, Liberty Interactive was spun-off by Liberty Media on September 28,1998, to form its own entity entitled. The division was formed with the purpose of taking advantage of emerging technologies, such as set-top boxes, to develop interactive programming. The company initially owned 86% of TCI Music Inc. (NASDAQ symbol: TUNE/TUNEP). As of January 1999, E! President and Chief Executive Officer Lee Masters became the new company's CEO, and Bruce Ravenel became the Chief Technology Officer.[5]

On September 10, 1999, Liberty Media Group renamed TCI Music to Liberty Digital Inc. (NASDAQ symbol: LDIG), with the new company trading on NASDAQ's National Market tier, after Liberty Media traded most of its internet content, interactive television assets, and rights to provide AT&T's cable systems with interactive services, plus cash and notes valued at $150 million, for TCI Music stock.[6] Masters, who became Liberty Digital's CEO, told The Wall Street Journal that the new company had a value of $1 billion, $650 million of that from the interactive unit of Liberty Media, which had also used the name Liberty Digital.[7] Liberty Digital lost $244 million with revenue of $66 million in 1999, thanks to investments in struggling Internet businesses HomeGrocer, drugstore.com, TiVo Corporation, and iVillage. The company bought half of the Game Show Network because of its interactive features.[8]

On December 17, 1999, TCI Satellite Entertainment Inc. (TSAT), based in Englewood, Colorado, announced that Liberty Media was trading its interest in Sprint PCS for $300 million in TCI Satellite preferred stock. A new company, ninety percent owned by Liberty Media and ten percent owned by TCI Satellite, would combine the satellite-related businesses and take advantage of the growing area of Internet content.[9]

Spin-offs

In 2004, IAC/Interactive announced the spin-off of its travel site Expedia into the new company Expedia. Barry Diller remained the head of IAC/Interactive and the chairman of Expedia,[10] a move that was completed in 2005.[11]

In November 2007, IAC/InterActiveCorp, then valued at US$18 billion, announced four major spin-offs: HSN, Ticketmaster, Interval (vacation and time-share business) and LendingTree. All spun off companies became publicly-traded. IAC retained most of its emerging internet businesses: Ask.com, Evite, Match.com, Vimeo, Citysearch and Zwinky. All spun off units remained headed by Barry Diller.[12][13]

In 2010, Liberty Media announced that it would spin off Liberty Starz and Liberty Capital and keep Liberty Interactive.[14][15]

In October 2014, Liberty Interactive spun off BuySeasons and its stake in TripAdvisor into a new company, Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings.[16]

In 2015, Liberty Interactive announced it would spin off CommerceHub as a separate company and its interests in Expedia and Bodybuilding.com into a new company, Liberty Expedia Holdings.[17]

2010s sales and acquisitions

In July 2014, Liberty Interactive announced it would be selling Provide Commerce (parent of ProFlowers) to FTD in return for an equity stake in FTD.[18]

In October 2014, Liberty Interactive announced its board had approved the division of the firm into two trading stocks – one for its shopping business, QVC Group, and another for its digital commerce, Liberty Digital Commerce, which would trade as Liberty Ventures Group.[19]

In April 2017, Liberty Interactive announced it would acquire Alaskan cable company GCI.[20] On July 6, 2017, Liberty Interactive announced that it would purchase the remaining 62% of HSN stock that it didn't already own, in a $2.1 billion all-stock deal at $40.36 a share.[21][22][23]

In July 2017, Liberty Interactive announced that later that year it would spin off its "cable holdings and other non-retail assets" into the new company Liberty Ventures, with Liberty Interactive to be renamed QVC Group. QVC Group would consist of QVC, HSN, Cornerstone Brands, and Zulily.[24]

On March 1, 2018, Liberty Interactive Corporation announced that it would rename itself to Qurate Retail Group.[25][26][27]

In July 2021, Qurate Retail announced that former president and CEO Mike George would be replaced by David Rawlinson II on October 1 of the same year.[28][29]

In May 2023, Qurate Retail Group's stock was facing a delisting from the Nasdaq if share prices are unable to rebound, as their stock has declined over 80% over the past year.[30] To avoid delisting, Qurate Retail announced the sale of Zulily to Regent, L.P.[31] In October 2023, CreditRiskMonitor reported that Qurate Retail Group was nearing a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.[32]

Activities

See also

References

  1. ^ Website homepage shows this as of July 3, 2022.
  2. ^ "Leadership".
  3. ^ "Qurate Retail". Fortune. Retrieved 2018-11-27.
  4. ^ "Qurate Retail Group". Google Finance.
  5. ^ "Liberty Media Forms Interactive Venture (Press release)". PR Newswire. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  6. ^ "TCI Music and Liberty Media Complete Transaction (Press release)". PR Newswire. Archived from the original on 2007-10-17. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  7. ^ "Liberty Media, TCI Form Internet Group – InternetNews". www.internetnews.com. Retrieved 2015-04-24.
  8. ^ Doan, Amy (August 26, 2000). "Liberty Is Sweet on Interactive TV". Forbes. Retrieved March 5, 2009.
  9. ^ "TCI Satellite Entertainment, Inc. Announces Investment By Liberty Media Corporation and Formation of Joint Venture (Press release)". PR Newswire. Archived from the original on 2011-08-31. Retrieved 2019-09-06.
  10. ^ "Barry Diller's IAC/InterActive to Spin Off Expedia". FOX News. Reuters. 21 December 2004. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  11. ^ "IAC/InterActiveCorp (Nasdaq: IACI) today announced the successful completion of the spin-off of Expedia, Inc. to IAC shareholders". Viewfinder. 9 August 2005. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  12. ^ Gershberg, Michele (5 November 2007). "IAC to spin off four units, shares up". Reuters. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  13. ^ Fabrikant, Geraldine (6 November 2007). "IAC/InterActive to Split Into 5 Companies". New York Times. Retrieved 30 August 2018.
  14. ^ Liberty Media Will Spin Off Liberty Capital and Liberty Starz
  15. ^ company history – Liberty Media
  16. ^ "Liberty Interactive files to spin off TripAdvisor stake". Reuters. 2014-05-06. Retrieved 2017-09-24.
  17. ^ "Liberty Interactive to spin off CommerceHub, Liberty Expedia". Reuters. 2015-11-12. Retrieved 2017-09-24.
  18. ^ FTD to buy Liberty Interactive's floral-gift business for $430M
  19. ^ "Liberty Interactive splits into cable shopping, e-commerce groups" (Press release). Reuters. 6 October 2014.
  20. ^ "Liberty Interactive Buys GCI of Alaska". Telecompetitor. Retrieved 2017-09-24.
  21. ^ "QVC to Acquire Rival HSN for More Than $2 Billion". Wall Street Journal. 6 July 2017.
  22. ^ "QVC buying longtime rival Home Shopping Network in deal valued at $2.1 billion". CNBC. 6 July 2017.
  23. ^ Isidore, Chris (6 Jul 2017). "QVC buying rival Home Shopping Network". CNN Money. Retrieved 6 July 2017.
  24. ^ Bond, Shannon; Kwan Yuk, Pan (July 6, 2017). "Liberty to combine QVC and HSN in $2.1bn deal". Financial Times. United Kingdom. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  25. ^ "Liberty Interactive to Change Name to Qurate Retail Group". www.prnewswire.com. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  26. ^ "QVC owner Liberty Interactive to rebrand as Qurate Retail Group". Retail Dive. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  27. ^ Spangler, Todd (2018-03-01). "John Malone's Liberty Interactive, Owner of QVC and HSN, to Rename Itself 'Qurate'". Variety. Retrieved 2023-11-16.
  28. ^ "Qurate Retail, Inc. Announces David Rawlinson II as Next President and CEO". www.businesswire.com. 2021-07-13. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  29. ^ Kapner, Suzanne (2021-07-13). "Owner of QVC and HSN Hires David Rawlinson as Its Next CEO". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2021-07-13.
  30. ^ "QVC, HSN parent Qurate Retail Group faces delisting from Nasdaq is share price doesn't rebound". The Business Journals. May 3, 2023. Retrieved October 3, 2023.
  31. ^ "Qurate Retail Announces Sale of Zulily to Regent". May 24, 2023. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  32. ^ "11 retailers at risk of bankruptcy in 2023". Retail Dive. October 2, 2023. Retrieved October 3, 2023.

External links