| Qurate Retail, Inc. | |
| Former Name: | Liberty Interactive Corporation (2011–2018) |
| Type: | Public |
| Predecessor: | Liberty Media |
| Industry: | Media holding company |
| Operating Income: | US$590 million (2023) |
| Net Income: | US$-145 million (2023) |
| Assets: | US$11.4 billion (2023) |
| Equity: | US$385 million (2023) |
| Owner: | John C. Malone (6.7%) |
| Num Employees Year: | 2023 |
| Divisions: | List of divisions |
| Footnotes: | [1] |
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.
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)., E! President and Chief Executive Officer Lee Masters became the new company's CEO, and Bruce Ravenel became the Chief Technology Officer.[2]
On September 10, 1999, TCI Music was renamed 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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5]
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.[6]
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,[7] a move that was completed in 2005.[8]
In November 2007, Liberty Media 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.[9] [10]
In 2010, Liberty Media announced that it would spin off Liberty Starz and Liberty Capital into separate entities.[11] [12]
In October 2014, Liberty Interactive spun off BuySeasons and its stake in TripAdvisor into a new company, Liberty TripAdvisor Holdings.[13]
In 2016, Liberty Interactive announced that it completed spin off of CommerceHub as a separate company and its interests in Expedia and Bodybuilding.com into a new company, Liberty Expedia Holdings.[14]
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.[15]
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.[16]
In April 2017, Liberty Interactive announced it would acquire Alaskan cable company GCI.[17] 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.[18] [19] [20]
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.[21]
On March 1, 2018, Liberty Interactive Corporation announced that it would rename itself to Qurate Retail Group.[22] [23] [24]
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.[25] [26]
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.[27] To avoid delisting, Qurate Retail announced the sale of Zulily to Regent, L.P.[28] In October 2023, CreditRiskMonitor reported that Qurate Retail Group was nearing a potential Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing.[29]