QVC to buy women's fashion website Zulily

Liberty Interactive, the owner of cable TV shopping group QVC, said Monday it would take over US women's fashion website Zulily for about 2.4 billion dollar.

Liberty said Zulily, known for its flash sales of popular women's and children's brands, "fits perfectly" with QVC, which also sells a wide range of fashions and home goods from its website.

Liberty will pay 18.75 dollar a share in cash and stock for Zulily, a 49 percent premium over the company's Friday close of 12.57 dollar.The shares jumped to 18.50 dollar in early trade Monday.

But the price came in below Zulily's November 2013 initial public offering at 22 dollar a share. After going public, the shares soared to more than 73 dollar on Zulily's model of often deeply discounted fashions that took the website's overall sales to 1.2 billion dollar last year.

Combined with QVC, annual online sales will be around 5 billion dollar, with a large portion of that coming from mobile transactions, according to Liberty.

"As the world leader in video and eCommerce retail, QVC is dedicated to reimagining shopping, entertainment and community as one," said QVC president and chief executive Mike George in a statement.

"In Zulily, we see a like-minded brand that shares our passion for discovering great products, for delivering honest value, and for building long-term relationships with customers."

Liberty shares, traded under the QVCA ticker, fell 2.6 percent to 29.46 dollar pmh/vs. (AFP)