(1)   Basis of Presentation

The accompanying condensed 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," “Consolidated Qurate Retail,” “us,” “we,” or “our” unless the context otherwise requires). All significant intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation. Qurate Retail is made up of wholly-owned subsidiaries QVC, Inc. (“QVC”), which includes HSN, Inc. (“HSN”) following the transfer of ownership of HSN to QVC (described below), Cornerstone Brands, Inc. (former subsidiary of HSN prior to the transfer of ownership of HSN to QVC, “Cornerstone”), Zulily, LLC (“Zulily”), and other cost and equity method investments.

Qurate Retail is primarily engaged in the video and online commerce industries in North America, Europe and Asia. The businesses of the Company’s wholly-owned subsidiaries, QVC, Cornerstone and Zulily, are seasonal due to a higher volume of sales in the fourth calendar quarter related to year-end holiday shopping.

The accompanying (a) condensed consolidated balance sheet as of December 31, 2018, which has been derived from audited financial statements, and (b) the interim unaudited condensed consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") for interim financial information and the instructions to Form 10-Q and Article 10 of Regulation S-X as promulgated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. Accordingly, they do not include all of the information and footnotes required by GAAP for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring accruals) considered necessary for a fair presentation of the results for such periods have been included. Additionally, certain prior period amounts have been reclassified for comparability with current period presentation. In the current year, the Company corrected a prior year immaterial error of $281 million which resulted in a reclassification within the working capital categories in the operating activities section of the condensed consolidated statement of cash flows which did not change net working capital. These condensed consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto contained in Qurate Retail's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018.

The preparation of financial statements in conformity with GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from those estimates. Qurate Retail considers (i) fair value measurements, (ii) accounting for income taxes, and (iii) estimates of retail-related adjustments and allowances to be its most significant estimates.    

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 31, 2018, Qurate Retail transferred its 100% ownership interest in HSN to QVC, Inc. through a transaction among entities under common control. References throughout this quarterly 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 Liberty (“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 (renamed “GCI Liberty, Inc.”) 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. The following is a reconciliation of the assets and liabilities that were derecognized by the Company (in millions) at the date of the GCI Liberty Split-Off (as defined below):

​

​

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. With respect to events on or after May 23, 2018, we refer to our Series A and Series B common stock as “Qurate Retail 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 centers in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and Roanoke, Virginia and has entered into an agreement to lease a new fulfillment center in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (see note 8 of the accompanying condensed consolidated financial statements).  Qurate Retail recorded transaction related costs of $43 million during the third quarter of 2018, which primarily related to severance as a result of the QRG Initiatives. Also, as a result of changes in internal reporting from the QRG Initiatives, during the first quarter of 2019 the Company changed its reportable segments to combine HSN and QVC U.S. into one reportable segment called “QxH.”

As a result of repurchases of Series A Qurate Retail common stock, the Company’s additional paid-in capital balance was in a deficit position as of September 30, 2019.  In order to ensure that the additional paid-in capital account is not negative, we reclassified the amount of the deficit ($344 million) at September 30, 2019 to retained earnings.

Qurate Retail has entered into certain agreements with Liberty Media Corporation ("LMC") (for accounting purposes, a related party of the Company), a separate publicly traded company. These agreements include a reorganization agreement, services agreement and facilities sharing agreement. Neither Qurate Retail nor LMC has any stock ownership, beneficial or otherwise, in the other. In connection with the GCI Liberty Split-Off, Qurate Retail and GCI Liberty (for accounting purposes, a related party of the Company) entered into a tax sharing agreement.  Pursuant to the tax sharing agreement, GCI Liberty has agreed to indemnify Qurate Retail for taxes and tax-related losses resulting from the Holdco Split-Off to the extent such taxes or tax-related losses (i) result primarily from, individually or in the aggregate, the breach of certain restrictive covenants made by GCI Liberty (applicable to actions or failures to act by GCI Liberty and its subsidiaries following the completion of the Holdco Split-Off), or (ii) result from Section 355(e) of the Internal Revenue Code applying to the Holdco Split-Off as a result of the Holdco Split-Off being part of a plan (or series of related transactions) pursuant to which one or more persons acquire, directly or indirectly, a 50-percent or greater interest (measured by vote or value) in the stock of GCI Liberty (or any successor corporation).

​

The reorganization agreement with LMC provides for, among other things, provisions governing the relationship between Qurate Retail and LMC, including certain cross-indemnities. Pursuant to the services agreement, LMC provides Qurate Retail with certain general and administrative services including legal, tax, accounting, treasury and investor relations support. Qurate Retail reimburses 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, LMC shares office space and related amenities at its corporate headquarters with Qurate Retail. Under these various agreements, approximately $2 million was reimbursable to LMC for both the three months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively, and $5 million and $6 million was reimbursable to LMC for the nine months ended September 30, 2019 and 2018, respectively.  Qurate Retail had a tax sharing payable to GCI Liberty in the amount of approximately $85 million and $103 million as of September 30, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively, included in Other liabilities in the condensed consolidated balances sheets. 

​

Accounting Pronouncements Not Yet Adopted

​

Internal-Use Software.  In August 2018, the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”) issued new guidance which aligns the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred in a hosting arrangement that is a service contract with the requirements for capitalizing implementation costs incurred to develop or obtain internal-use software.  The guidance will be effective for the Company in the first quarter of 2020 with early adoption permitted. The Company is currently assessing the impact that adopting this new accounting standard will have on its consolidated financial statements.