(1)  Basis of Presentation

The accompanying consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Qurate Retail, Inc. (formerly named Liberty Interactive Corporation prior to the Transactions (defined and described below), or “Liberty”) and its controlled subsidiaries (collectively, "Qurate Retail," the "Company," “we,” “us,” and “our”) unless the context otherwise requires). All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Qurate Retail, through its ownership of interests in subsidiaries and other companies, is primarily engaged in the video and online commerce industries in North America, Europe and Asia. 

On July 22, 2016, Qurate Retail completed the spin-off (the “CommerceHub Spin-Off”) of its former wholly-owned subsidiary CommerceHub, Inc. (“CommerceHub”) to holders of its Liberty Ventures common stock.  The CommerceHub Spin-Off was accomplished by the distribution by Qurate Retail of a dividend of (i) 0.1 of a share of CommerceHub’s Series A common stock for each outstanding share of Qurate Retail’s Series A Liberty Ventures common stock as of 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on July 8, 2016 (such date and time, the “Record Date”), (ii) 0.1 of a share of CommerceHub’s Series B common stock for each outstanding share of Qurate Retail’s Series B Liberty Ventures common stock as of the Record Date and (iii) 0.2 of a share of CommerceHub’s Series C common stock for each outstanding share of Series A and Series B Liberty Ventures common stock as of the Record Date, in each case, with cash paid in lieu of fractional shares. In September 2016, the IRS completed its review of the CommerceHub Spin-Off and informed Qurate Retail that it agreed with the nontaxable characterization of the transaction. Qurate Retail received an Issue Resolution Agreement from the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) documenting this conclusion. CommerceHub is included in Qurate Retail’s Corporate and other segment through July 22, 2016 and is not presented as a discontinued operation as the CommerceHub Spin-Off did not have a major effect on Qurate Retail’s operations and financial results.

On November 4, 2016, Qurate Retail completed the split-off (the “Expedia Holdings Split-Off”) of its former wholly-owned subsidiary Liberty Expedia Holdings, Inc. (“Expedia Holdings”) to holders of its Liberty Ventures common stock. At the time of the Expedia Holdings Split-Off, Expedia Holdings was comprised of, among other things, Qurate Retail’s former interest in Expedia Group, Inc., formerly known as Expedia, Inc. (“Expedia”) and Qurate Retail’s former wholly-owned subsidiary Bodybuilding. On November 2, 2016, Expedia Holdings borrowed $350 million under a new margin loan and distributed $299 million, net of certain debt related costs, to Qurate Retail on November 4, 2016. The Expedia Holdings Split-Off was accomplished by the redemption of (i) 0.4 of each outstanding share of Qurate Retail’s Series A Liberty Ventures common stock for 0.4 of a share of Expedia Holdings Series A common stock at 5:00 p.m., New York City time, on November 4, 2016 (such date and time, the “Redemption Date”) and (ii) 0.4 of each outstanding share of Qurate Retail’s Series B Liberty Ventures common stock for 0.4 of a share of Expedia Holdings Series B common stock on the Redemption Date, in each case, with cash paid in lieu of any fractional shares of Liberty Ventures common stock or Expedia Holdings common stock (after taking into account all of the shares owned of record by each holder thereof, as applicable). In February 2017, the IRS completed its review of the Expedia Holdings Split-Off and informed Qurate Retail that it agreed with the nontaxable characterization of the transaction. Qurate Retail received an Issue Resolution Agreement from the IRS documenting this conclusion.

Qurate Retail viewed Expedia and Bodybuilding as separate components and evaluated them separately for discontinued operations presentation. Based on a quantitative analysis, the split-off of Qurate Retail’s interest in Expedia had a major effect on Qurate Retail’s operations, primarily due to one-time gains on transactions recognized by Expedia in 2015.  Accordingly, the consolidated financial statements of Qurate Retail have been prepared to reflect Qurate Retail’s interest in Expedia as a discontinued operation. The disposition of Bodybuilding as part of the Expedia Holdings Split-Off does not have a major effect on Qurate Retail’s historical results nor is it expected to have a major effect on Qurate Retail’s future operations. Accordingly, Bodybuilding is not presented as a discontinued operation in the consolidated financial statements of Qurate Retail. Bodybuilding is included in the Corporate and other segment through November 4, 2016.

Pursuant to a reimbursement agreement entered into in connection with the Expedia Holdings Split-Off, Qurate Retail reimbursed Expedia, a related party prior to the Expedia Holdings Split-Off, $4 million during October 2016, thereby settling the reimbursement agreement.

Prior to the Transactions (described and defined below), the Company utilized tracking stocks in its capital structure. A tracking stock is a type of common stock that the issuing company intends to reflect or "track" the economic performance of a particular business or "group," rather than the economic performance of the company as a whole. Qurate Retail had two tracking stocks—QVC Group common stock and Liberty Ventures common stock, which were intended to track and reflect the economic performance of the businesses, assets and liabilities attributed to the QVC Group and the Ventures Group, respectively.  The QVC Group was comprised of the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiaries QVC, zulily, HSN and Cornerstone, among other assets and liabilities.  The Ventures Group was comprised of businesses not included in the QVC Group including Evite, Inc. (“Evite”) and our interests in Liberty Broadband Corporation (“Liberty Broadband”), LendingTree, Inc. (“LendingTree”), investments in Charter Communications, Inc. (“Charter”) and ILG, Inc. (“ILG”), among other assets and liabilities. The Company’s results are attributed to the QVC Group and the Ventures Group through March 9, 2018.

On December 29, 2017, Qurate Retail acquired the approximately 62% of HSN, Inc. it did not already own in an all-stock transaction making HSN, Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary. HSN, Inc. stockholders (other than Qurate Retail) received fixed consideration of 1.65 shares of Series A QVC Group common stock (“QVCA”) for each share of HSN, Inc. common stock. Qurate Retail issued 53.6 million shares QVCA common stock to HSN, Inc. stockholders.  On December 31, 2018, Qurate Retail transferred our 100% ownership interest in HSN to QVC, Inc. through a transaction among entities under common control. References throughout this annual report to “QVC” refer to QVC, Inc., which includes HSN, QVC U.S. and QVC International.  Cornerstone remains a subsidiary of Qurate Retail.

On March 9, 2018, Qurate Retail completed the transactions contemplated by the Agreement and Plan of Reorganization (as amended, the “Reorganization Agreement,” and the transactions contemplated thereby, the “Transactions”) among General Communication, Inc. (“GCI”), an Alaska corporation, and Liberty Interactive LLC, a Delaware limited liability company and a direct wholly-owned subsidiary of Qurate Retail (“LI LLC”). Pursuant to the Reorganization Agreement, GCI amended and restated its articles of incorporation (which resulted in GCI being renamed GCI Liberty, Inc. (“GCI Liberty”)) and effected a reclassification and auto conversion of its common stock. After market close on March 8, 2018, Qurate Retail’s board of directors approved the reattribution of certain assets and liabilities from Qurate Retail’s Ventures Group to its QVC Group, which was effective immediately. The reattributed assets and liabilities included cash, Qurate Retail’s interest in ILG, certain green energy investments, LI LLC’s exchangeable debentures, and certain tax benefits.

Following these events, Qurate Retail acquired GCI Liberty through a reorganization in which certain Qurate Retail interests, assets and liabilities attributed to the Ventures Group were contributed (the “contribution”) to GCI Liberty in exchange for a controlling interest in GCI Liberty. Qurate Retail and LI LLC contributed to GCI Liberty their entire equity interest in Liberty Broadband, Charter, and LendingTree, the Evite operating business and other assets and liabilities attributed to Qurate Retail’s Venture Group (following the reattribution), in exchange for (a) the issuance to LI LLC of a number of shares of GCI Liberty Class A Common Stock and a number of shares of GCI Liberty Class B Common Stock equal to the number of outstanding shares of Series A Liberty Ventures common stock and Series B Liberty Ventures common stock on March 9, 2018, respectively, (b) cash and (c) the assumption of certain liabilities by GCI Liberty.

Following the contribution, Qurate Retail effected a tax-free separation of its controlling interest in the combined company (the “GCI Liberty Split-Off”), GCI Liberty, to the holders of Liberty Ventures common stock in full redemption of all outstanding shares of such stock, in which each outstanding share of Series A Liberty Ventures common stock was redeemed for one share of GCI Liberty Class A common stock and each outstanding share of Series B Liberty Ventures common stock was redeemed for one share of GCI Liberty Class B common stock.  Simultaneous with the closing of the Transactions, QVC Group common stock became the only outstanding common stock of Qurate Retail, and thus QVC Group common stock ceased to function as a tracking stock. On April 9, 2018, Liberty Interactive Corporation was renamed Qurate Retail, Inc. On May 23, 2018, Qurate Retail amended its charter to eliminate the tracking stock capitalization structure and reclassify each share of QVC Group common stock into one share of the corresponding series of new common stock of Qurate Retail. Throughout this annual report, we refer to our Series A and Series B common stock as “Qurate Retail common stock” and “QVC Group common stock.” In July 2018, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) completed its review of the GCI Liberty Split-Off and informed Qurate Retail that it agreed with the nontaxable characterization of the transactions. Qurate Retail received an Issue Resolution Agreement from the IRS documenting this conclusion.

On October 17, 2018, Qurate Retail announced a series of initiatives designed to better position its HSN and QVC U.S. businesses (“QRG Initiatives”). As part of the QRG Initiatives, QVC will close its fulfillment center in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and has entered into an agreement to lease a new fulfillment center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, commencing in 2019 (see note 15). Qurate Retail recorded transaction related costs of $41 million during the year ended December 31, 2018 related to the QRG Initiatives, which primarily related to severance costs.

Qurate Retail and Liberty Media Corporation (“LMC”) (for accounting purposes a related party of Qurate Retail) entered into certain agreements in order to govern certain of the ongoing relationships between the two companies. These agreements include a reorganization agreement, a services agreement (the “Services Agreement”), a facilities sharing agreement (the “Facilities Sharing Agreement”) and a tax sharing agreement (the “Tax Sharing Agreement”). Qurate Retail and GCI Liberty (for accounting purposes a related party of Qurate Retail) entered into a tax sharing agreement.

The Tax Sharing Agreement provides for the allocation and indemnification of tax liabilities and benefits between Qurate Retail and LMC and other agreements related to tax matters.  Qurate Retail is party to on-going discussions with the IRS under the Compliance Assurance Process audit program.  The IRS may propose adjustments that relate to tax attributes allocated to and income allocable to LMC.  Any potential outcome associated with any proposed adjustments would be covered by the Tax Sharing Agreement and are not expected to have any impact on Qurate Retail's financial position.  Pursuant to the Services Agreement, LMC will provide Qurate Retail with general and administrative services including legal, tax, accounting, treasury and investor relations support. Qurate Retail will reimburse LMC for direct, out-of-pocket expenses incurred by LMC in providing these services and for Qurate Retail's allocable portion of costs associated with any shared services or personnel based on an estimated percentage of time spent providing services to Qurate Retail. Under the Facilities Sharing Agreement, Qurate Retail will share office space with LMC and related amenities at LMC's corporate headquarters.  Under these various agreements approximately $8 million, $11 million and $10 million of these allocated expenses were reimbursed from Qurate Retail to LMC for the years ended December 31, 2018,  2017 and 2016, respectively. Qurate Retail has a tax sharing payable to GCI Liberty in the amount of approximately $103 million as of December 31, 2018, the majority of which is included in Other liabilities in the consolidated balances sheets, with the exception of $37 million, which is included in Other current liabilities on the consolidated balance sheets.