QVC Slated to Acquire Longtime Competitor for $2.1 Billion
QVC and HSN are longtime rivals. They’re basically McDonald’s and Burger King in the television shopping industry. And now they’re about to become one entity. Liberty Interactive, the parent company of TV shopping network QVC, announced Thursday that it will acquire the Home Shopping Network. This could literally change how you shop on TV forever. We’re hoping this means much more of David dancing around in his kitchen, and even better deals on cookware.
Keep reading and we’ll throw in a bunch of extra facts — for a limited time only, of course.
“We have both been innovators in a growing and dynamic retail environment with a unique vision of what shopping should be, and as new technologies continue to change our everyday lives, together we can develop the next generation of shopping for the next generation of consumers,” Arthur C. Martinez, HSN’s chairman of the Board of Directors, says in a statement.
Currently, Liberty Interactive owns 38.2 percent of HSN’s stock. The company plans to buy out the remaining 61.8 percent for $2.1 billion. The buyout will be an all-stock transaction. This means no cash will be exchanged. Instead, HSN investors will receive 1.65 shares of QVC stock for each share of HSN stock, reports NPR.
“The addition of HSN will enhance QVC’s position as the leading global video eCommerce retailer,” Greg Maffei, CEO of Liberty Interactive, says in a statement. “Every year they together produce over 55,000 hours of shoppable video content.”
Both QVC and HSN have seen a decline in sales with the growth of online shopping, reports CNN Money. Even so, QVC raked in $8.7 billion last year and HSN’s revenue was $3.5 billion.
After the merger, the QVC-HSN hybrid company will be the third-largest e-commerce site — after Amazon and Walmart — with an estimated $14 billion in annual sales and 23 million customers around the globe, according to QVC CEO Mike George.
“For folks just starting out with an entrepreneurial idea to have access to this combined HSN-QVC platform, the opportunities are extraordinary,” George said while speaking on “Squawk on the Street” on Thursday.
Do you shop on QVC? What’s the best deal you’ve ever scored? Let us know in the comments!