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Second-quarter revenue at QVC — one of Liberty’s three principal business units — fell 4.4% to $1.68 billion, including a 2% drop in the U.S. That performance was an improvement over the last few quarters, when revenue had been down between 9% and 12%. The Wall Street Journal Aug. 6, 2009
Tags: 2Q Earnings, Liberty Media, QVCAt Allen & Co. conference in Sun Valley, Idaho, Liberty Media CEO John Malone said that media companies must find ways to be compensated for their web content, beyond advertising alone. One cause for optimism: cable operators convinced consumers to pay for TV after decades of free broadcasts. Bloomberg.com June 8, 2009
IAC/InterActiveCorp CEO Barry Diller, giving the keynote address at the Advertising 2.0 conference in New York this week, characterized the prevelance of free content on the web as, “an accidental historical moment that will absolutely be corrected.” He went on to cite the Apple’s iTunes online store — with its convenient, streamlined payments — as a model for paid content on the web. CNET June 10, 2009
Tags: Barry Diller, IAC, iTunes, paid contentYesterday, ShopNBC announced the restructuring and extension of its $44.3 million payment obligation on preferred stock to GE, which was scheduled to mature this spring. As a result of the new agreement, GE will now receive: an upfront cash payment of $3.4 million, warrants to purchase shares of ShopNBC’s common stock at $0.75 per share, and 4.9 million shares of a new series of non-convertible, redeemable, preferred stock. ShopNBC Press Release Feb. 25, 2009
Tags: GE, ShopNBCYesterday, Liberty CEO Gregg Maffei acknolwedged an interest in increasing his company’s current 30% ownership stake in HSN at some point in the future, saying, “…we do believe we are the natural owner at some point of that company [HSN]. We’re the one with the most synergies.” Multichannel News Feb. 25, 2009
Tags: Gregg Maffei, HSN, Liberty Media“Driven by weak sales at its home-shopping channel QVC, Liberty Media Interactive (NSDQ: LINTA) reported a 4 percent drop in revenues to $2.4 billion, while Interactive’s operating-income-before-depreciation-and-amortization (OIBDA) decreased 4 percent to $432 million.” A bright spot for QVC was double-digit growth in e-commerce revenue, which come as the company effects significant upgrades to its web presence. paidContent.org Liberty Media Press Release Feb. 25, 2009
Tags: Liberty Media, QVCBarry Diller’s interest seems to be moving from “shopping at home” to “dating abroad,” having spun off the now-sputtering HSN and purchasing the leading Chinese dating sites, eDodo. He alluded to the possibility of InterActiveCorp’s making a “transformational acquisition” during an early February earnings call. What will it be? Forbes Feb. 5, 2009
Tags: Barry Diller, HSN, InterActiveCorpMemphis, Tennessee-based Wanderlich Securities has upgraded Liberty Media (Nasdaq: LINTA) from Hold to Buy, largely on the prospects of an ‘L-shaped’ recovery for QVC and the likelihood that the electronic retailer can eventually replicate its model in new markets like China. Wanderlich raised its price target for Liberty from $4.25 to $5.00. StreetInsider.com Jan. 28, 2009
Tags: Liberty Media, QVC, Wanderlich SecuritiesNBC Universal Inc., the media subsidiary of General Electric Company, contributed $865 million in operating profit in the fourth quarter, down 6 percent from a year ago. Revenue fell 3 percent to $4.43 billion from $4.55 billion during the period. ShopNBC and the Ion television network were two of the investments contributing to the NBC Universal write-down. Associated Press on Forbes.com Jan. 23, 2009
Tags: General Electric, NBC Universal, ShopNBCThe Barclays Capital analyst cut the rating to “equal weight” from “overweight,” citing a decline in the home-shopping QVC business, which could jeopardize the company’s ability to buy back shares. AP via Forbes Nov. 3, 2008