QVC Buying HSN on Easy Pay

QVC wants to buy HSN. But last year when Barry Diller spun off HSN from his company, IAC, he threw a monkey wrench into into the master plan. John Malone, emperor of QVC's parent company Liberty Media, had a bit of a disagreement with Barry Diller over the whole spin off deal (Doncha love it when billionaires get into a pissing match with each other? It's just so relatable.) The eventual settlement restricted Liberty from buying more than 5% more stock in HSN until May 2010.

Liberty Media has recently said on the record that they are the "natural owner" of HSN due to having the most "synergies" (who knew they were so metaphysical). And they just upped their stake in HSN from about 30% to 33% of the company--think of it as Easy Pay number one. Only a dollar a day, y'all!

We might have gleaned some insight about the situation at HSN's first annual shareholders' meeting since being spun off from Barry Diller's company, but they refused to allow media inside. Apparently most publicly traded companies allow the business media to cover their meetings even though they aren't technically required to do so. The local Tampa Bay media is not happy. They are even making veiled threats to no longer cover HSN or its celebrity pitchmen since they also aren't "required" to do it. I'm just guessing here, but feuding with the media is probably not the best PR move.

QVC Looks to Buy HSN

QVC's parent company, Liberty Media, wants to make a play for HSN.

In case you didn't already know, here's the quick lowdown on the home shopping family tree: HSN was owned by IAC (i.e. Barry Diller); however, Liberty Media (i.e. John Malone), which owns QVC, had a 30% stake in IAC. So HSN and the Q were kinda sorta related--cousins from an inbred family, perhaps?

Anyway, then IAC spun off HSN into its own company cause Barry Diller's got better things to do now--like buying matchmaking websites in China!

On a recent conference call, Liberty CEO Gregg Maffei said that they are prohibited from making a bid on HSN until May 2010. "But we do believe we are the natural owner at some point of that company. We're the one with the most synergies." Maffei added that in the meantime, QVC has the right to increase its stake in HSN from 30% to 35%.

I don't know why Liberty wants even more of the home shopping biz--even though they are the "natural owner" with the most "synergies." Especially considering QVC's recent lackluster sales--domestic revenue fell 12% last quarter (that's the uber important holiday season too) mostly due to declines in jewelry and apparel. However, QVC President and CEO Mike (King) George swears on his brand new Mini Dell that the fall-off is not because that aren't attracting new customers or that their existing customers are leaving, but due to customers just buying less frequently.

And FYI, Liberty also just bailed out Sirius XM, so I'd be expecting a Sirius XM Radio TSV on the Q soon--only 6 easy payments, y'all!

Shopping Around

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  Don't steal me Lucky Charms!!! According to WWD Business, Van Cleef reaches settlement with Mouawad's Heidi Klum collection for QVC over all those clover designs in her jewelry. What's next? Hearts? Stars? Horseshoes? Ugh!

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  Barry Diller, CEO of IAC, former parent company of HSN, talks with the Wall Street Journal about the economy, the future, and the big break off of HSN. He also talks about a feud with Jim Malone of Liberty Media (parent company of QVC, which also owns part of IAC--confused yet???) that landed them in court.

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  Burnin' Down the House ... The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has recalled fryers, which were sold on QVC's Cook Essentials 3 Liter Stainless Steel Deep Fryers with three baskets. The model number is F1053Q. Contact the Q if you bought one of these.

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  According to the AP, You Tube is trying to cash in on the whole home shopping concept. Those free videos don't pay for themselves, you know!I'm not exactly clear on this, but it sounds like there will be a button below the video to purchase the product in the video (or related to the video? I'm not sure).

Keeping It All in the Family

There have been lots of Internet buzz about IAC, which owns HSN, separating into five different companies. I have avoided all these aritles because--quite honestly--the stock market makes my eyes glaze over (which is probably why I'm not rich ... oh well).

So why do I care about any of this?

Turns out that one of the biggest investors in IAC is Liberty Media. Guess what Liberty Media owns??? That's right, QVC!

Here's what this article had to say about the IAC split:

That leaves HSN. I don't know if regulators would let Liberty Media's (NYSE: LBTYA) QVC hook up with HSN, but there's a reason why Liberty has been a longtime investor in IAC, and it has nothing to do with scoring Madonna tickets through Ticketmaster or angling for a red week of Interval timeshare travel in Maui.

So what sort of Dr. Evil world domination is QVC up to exactly?!?!?! And is HSN their new Mini Me?