John Malone’s Liberty Media has agreed to pay $7.9 million for full control of the shopping channel QVC raising doubts about the company’s ability to make a competitive bid for the US entertainment assets of Vivendi Universal.
Earlier this year Liberty, which already has a 42% stake in QVC, triggered a clause in its deal with co-owner Comcast which decreed that the business should be bought out by one or the other.
Comcast is one of the leading cable providers in the US but is saddled with debts of more than $40 million and has decided to sell relinquish its 58% stake in QVC. The multinational broadcaster had revenue of $4.38 billion last year, accounting for more than a third of Comcast’s overall turnover.
Liberty is in the running to acquire Vivendi Univeral Entertainment (see Vivendi To Assess US Entertainment Bids) but some analysts now question whether Malone will have sufficient funds to win the auction. It has already been reported that Universal Partners, a consortium led by US oil tycoon Marvin Davis, has been dropped from the bidding process (see Vivendi Selects VUE Bidders In Auction).
