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QVC Parent to Buy HSN in $2.6B Deal
Liberty Interactive is acquiring the 62 percent of HSN Inc. that it doesn’t already own.
Liberty Interactive Corp., parent company of West Chester, Pennsylvania-based home shopping channel QVC, is buying rival station HSN in a deal valued at nearly $3 billion.
Englewood, Colo.--QVC parent company Liberty Interactive Corp. announced Thursday that it is buying out rival home shopping network HSN Inc. in a deal valued at $2.6 billion.
Liberty Interactive already owns 38.2 percent of HSNi. Under the terms of the agreement, it will acquire the remaining 61.8 percent stake, making HSN a wholly owned subsidiary.
The long-talked-about merger brings together two rivals in the home shopping arena that sell a combined $800 million-plus in jewelry and watches annually, according to National Jeweler’s latest State of the Majors report.
And it comes at a time when the home shopping networks, like many brick-and-mortar retailers, are struggling to compete with online players like Amazon.
“There’s so much change going on in retailing, and by combining forces our ability to serve the customers at that much higher a level, to create new digital platforms, new interactive television platforms (improves),” QVC Inc. President and CEO Mike George said on MSNBC Thursday. “Now we join forces, and we compete that much more strongly in the broader retail marketplace.”
The QVC-HSN merger is an all-stock transaction; HSNi shareholders will receive 1.65 shares of QVC Group common stock for each share of HSNi stock that they own.
Liberty Interactive already owns 38.2 percent of HSNi. Under the terms of the agreement, it will acquire the remaining 61.8 percent stake, making HSN a wholly owned subsidiary.
The long-talked-about merger brings together two rivals in the home shopping arena that sell a combined $800 million-plus in jewelry and watches annually, according to National Jeweler’s latest State of the Majors report.
And it comes at a time when the home shopping networks, like many brick-and-mortar retailers, are struggling to compete with online players like Amazon.
“There’s so much change going on in retailing, and by combining forces our ability to serve the customers at that much higher a level, to create new digital platforms, new interactive television platforms (improves),” QVC Inc. President and CEO Mike George said on MSNBC Thursday. “Now we join forces, and we compete that much more strongly in the broader retail marketplace.”
The QVC-HSN merger is an all-stock transaction; HSNi shareholders will receive 1.65 shares of QVC Group common stock for each share of HSNi stock that they own.
QVC Inc. President and CEO Mike George | Mike George QVC Inc.
The acquisition, which is subject to regulatory approval and the approval of the majority of HSNi’s stockholders, is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter 2017.
Also later this year, Liberty Interactive will spin off QVC and flash-sale site Zulily, which it acquired in 2015, to form the QVC Group Inc. HSNi will become part of the group. HSNi includes HSN (the Home Shopping Network) and Cornerstone, which is comprised of home and lifestyle brands Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill, Grandin Road and Improvements.
Even after the merger is complete, HSNi will remain headquartered in St. Petersburg, Florida, but be headed by George, who works out of QVC’s headquarters in West Chester, Pennsylvania. HSN has been without a CEO since Mindy Grossman left the company in late May.
Both QVC and HSN were on National Jeweler’s 2016 list of $100 Million Supersellers. QVC ranked No. 11 with an estimated $626 million in watch and jewelry sales in 2015, while HSN Inc. was at No. 26 with an estimated $214 million in sales.
According to a presentation the companies made to shareholders on Thursday, jewelry currently accounts for a nearly equal percentage of the product offerings at both networks; 8 percent at HSN and 9 percent at QVC.
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