QVC and Home Shopping Network, two of the most well-known home-shopping hubs, are combining further as they look at aggressive growth by Amazon and consumer shopping habits shifting to internet-based retail.
Colorado-based Liberty Interactive Corp., which owns QVC and already owns 38 percent of HSN, will buy the rest of Home Shopping Network for about $2.6 billion in a stock deal.
The buyout comes months after Mindy Grossman left as CEO of HSN to take the reins of Weight Watchers. Under Grossman, HSN worked to build its e-commerce presence and transform itself into a lifestyle network. It now derives half of its revenue from e-commerce, featuring more than 50,000 products on its website along with broadcasting to more than 90 million households.
Both QVC and Home Shopping Network have been dealing with sluggish sales as Amazon dominates the online shopping.
"As the prominent global video commerce retailer and North America's third largest mobile and eCommerce retailer, the combined company will be well-positioned to help shape the next generation of retailing," said Mike George, QVC's president and CEO.
Liberty, based in Englewood, Colorado, will issue 53.4 million shares of QVC Series A common stock to HSN shareholders. It said Thursday that's the equivalent of paying $40.36 per share for HSN Inc. of St. Petersburg, Florida.
That'd be a 29 percent premium to the stock. Shares of HSN surged $10.30, or 33 percent, to $41.60 in morning trading.
The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.
