(2)   Tracking Stocks

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. Liberty has two tracking stocks—QVC Group common stock and Liberty Ventures common stock, which are intended to track and reflect the economic performance of the QVC Group and the Ventures Group, respectively.

While the QVC Group and the Ventures Group have separate collections of businesses, assets and liabilities attributed to them, no group is a separate legal entity and therefore cannot own assets, issue securities or enter into legally binding agreements. Holders of tracking stock have no direct claim to the group's stock or assets and are not represented by separate boards of directors. Instead, holders of tracking stock are stockholders of the parent corporation, with a single board of directors and subject to all of the risks and liabilities of the parent corporation.

The term "QVC Group" does not represent a separate legal entity, rather it represents those businesses, assets and liabilities that have been attributed to that group. The QVC Group is primarily comprised of our merchandise-focused televised-shopping programs, Internet and mobile application businesses and has attributed to it our wholly-owned subsidiaries, QVC, Inc. (“QVC”) and zulily (defined below) (as of October 1, 2015), and our approximate 38% interest in HSN, Inc., along with cash and certain liabilities that reside with QVC and zulily as well as certain liabilities related to our corporate indebtedness (see note 10) and certain deferred tax liabilities. As of September 30, 2016, the QVC Group has cash and cash equivalents of approximately $348 million, which includes subsidiary cash.

The term "Ventures Group" does not represent a separate legal entity, rather it represents those businesses, assets and liabilities that have been attributed to that group. The Ventures Group is primarily comprised of our subsidiaries Bodybuilding.com, LLC ("Bodybuilding") (until November 4, 2016), Commerce Technologies, Inc. (d/b/a “CommerceHub”) (until July 22, 2016), Evite, Inc. ("Evite") and Backcountry.com, Inc. (“Backcountry”) (see note 3 for discussion of a disposed business) and interests in Expedia, Inc. (until November 4, 2016), FTD Companies, Inc. (“FTD”), LendingTree, Inc., and Liberty Broadband Corporation (“Liberty Broadband”), available-for-sale securities in Charter Communications, Inc., Interval Leisure Group, Inc. and Time Warner Inc. (“Time Warner”), as well as cash and cash equivalents of approximately $157 million at September 30, 2016. The Ventures Group also has attributed to it certain liabilities related to our Exchangeable Debentures (see note 10) and certain deferred tax liabilities. The Ventures Group is primarily focused on the maximization of the value of these investments and investing in new business opportunities. 

On October 1, 2015, Liberty acquired all of the outstanding shares of zulily, inc. (“zulily”) (now known as zulily, llc) for consideration of approximately $2.3 billion, comprised of $9.375 of cash and 0.3098 newly issued shares of Series A QVC Group common stock for each zulily share, with cash paid in lieu of any fractional shares.  Funding for the $1.2 billion cash portion of the consideration came from cash on hand at zulily and a distribution from QVC funded by a drawdown under its revolving credit facility (see note 10).  zulily is an online retailer offering customers a fun and entertaining shopping experience with a fresh selection of new product styles launched each day.  zulily is attributed to the QVC Group and we believe that its business is complementary to QVC’s. Subsequent to December 31, 2015, the preliminary purchase price allocation was adjusted, resulting in decreases of $50 million to trademarks, $40 million to intangible assets subject to amortization and $33 million to deferred tax liabilities and a corresponding increase of $57 million to goodwill. If these adjustments had been recorded as of the acquisition date, amortization expense would have been approximately $3 million lower for the period ended December 31, 2015. There have been no other significant changes to our purchase price allocation since December 31, 2015. Liberty’s purchase price allocation is final as of September 30, 2016.   

On May 18, 2016, Liberty completed a $2.4 billion investment in Liberty Broadband in connection with the merger of Charter Communications, Inc. ("Charter") and Time Warner Cable Inc. ("TWC"). The proceeds of this investment were used by Liberty Broadband to fund, in part, its acquisition of $5 billion of stock in the new public parent company (“New Charter”) of the combined enterprises. Liberty, along with third party investors, all of whom invested on the same terms as Liberty, purchased newly issued shares of Liberty Broadband Series C common stock at a per share price of $56.23, which was determined based upon the fair value of Liberty Broadband's net assets on a sum-of-the parts basis at the time the investment agreements were executed. Liberty's investment in Liberty Broadband was funded using cash on hand and is attributed to the Ventures Group. See note 8 for additional information related to this investment.

Liberty also exchanged, in a tax-free transaction, its shares of TWC common stock for shares of New Charter Class A common stock, on a one-for-one basis, and Liberty has granted to Liberty Broadband a proxy and a right of first refusal with respect to the shares of New Charter Class A common stock held by Liberty in the exchange.

On July 22, 2016, Liberty completed its previously announced spin-off (the “Spin-Off”) of its former wholly-owned subsidiary CommerceHub.  The Spin-Off was accomplished by the distribution by Liberty of a dividend of (i) 0.1 of a share of CommerceHub’s Series A common stock for each outstanding share of Liberty’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 Liberty’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. This transaction has been recorded at historical cost due to the pro rata nature of the distribution. The IRS completed its review of the Spin-Off and notified Liberty that it agreed with the nontaxable characterization of the Spin-Off.

CommerceHub is included in the Corporate and other segment through July 22, 2016 and is not presented as a discontinued operation as the Spin-Off did not represent a strategic shift that had a major effect on Liberty’s operations and financial results. Included in revenue in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations is $7 million and $20 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and $51 million and $59 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively, related to CommerceHub.  Included in net earnings (loss) in the accompanying condensed consolidated statements of operations are earnings of $4 million and losses of $5 million for the three months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively, and earnings of $4 million and losses of $6 million for the nine months ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively, related to CommerceHub.  Included in total assets in the accompanying condensed consolidated balance sheets as of December 31, 2015 is $115 million related to CommerceHub.

On November 4, 2016, Liberty completed its previously announced split-off (the “Split-Off”) of its former wholly-owned subsidiary Liberty Expedia Holdings, Inc. (“Expedia Holdings”). Expedia Holdings is comprised of, among other things, Liberty’s interest in Expedia, Inc. (approximately 16% equity interest and approximately 52% voting interest as of September 30, 2016) and Liberty’s wholly-owned subsidiary Bodybuilding. On November 2, 2016, Expedia Holdings borrowed $350 million under a new margin loan and distributed $300 million to Liberty on November 4, 2016. The Split-Off was accomplished by the redemption of (i) 0.4 of each outstanding share of Liberty’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 Liberty’s Series B Liberty Ventures common stock for 0.4 of a share of Expedia Holdings Series B common stock on the Redemption Date.

See Exhibit 99.1 to this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for unaudited attributed financial information for Liberty's tracking stock groups.