Liberty Interactive (NASDAQ:QVCA) is on the move. Liberty just revealed that it has completed a $2.1 billion acquisition for 62% of HSN Inc. It was back in July when the deal was first announced.
An official familiar with the matter opined, “Douglas County-based Liberty, parent of cable and online shopping service QVC and controlled by media mogul John Malone, now owns a major e-commerce competitor, HSN (Home Shopping Network). QVC and HSN together are projected to generate $14 billion in annual revenue.”
The recent acquisition presents to the world the third largest e-commerce company in the United States of course behind leaders Amazon.com, Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc (NYSE:WMT). Earlier, HSN Inc. shareholders had proceeded to give their approval to the all-stock deal in a brief meeting. HSN has therefore, with immediate effect, ceased to be a publicly-traded stock.
St. Petersburg, Florida-based HSN currently owns numerous retail brands including Frontgate, Ballard Designs, Garnet Hill Grandin Road and Improvements and all these fall under the Cornerstone segment.
Liberty Interactive’s president and CEO Greg Maffei said that they were excited about the fact that HSN was making its entry into the QVC family. The combination in their view will move QVC’s position higher as the topmost global video e-commerce retailer and will also at the same time be delivering meaningful synergies.
QVC’s president and CEO Mike George will be the one overseeing HSN which will be maintaining its headquarters in Florida. The former chairman of QVC Japan Mike Fitzharris will take up the role of the first president of HSN and will be reporting to George.
HSN board member Fiona Dias will in the meantime be joining the Liberty Interactive board. Aside from QVC, the online retailer Zulily is the other party to Liberty Interactive and it owns it through the QVC Group tracking-stock group.