(10) Stockholders' Equity

Preferred Stock

On September 14, 2020, Qurate Retail issued the Preferred Stock. There were 13,500,000 shares of Preferred Stock authorized and 12,513,752 shares issued and outstanding at December 31, 2020. 

​

Priority. The Preferred Stock ranks senior to the shares of common stock of Qurate Retail, with respect to dividend rights, rights of redemption and rights on the distribution of assets on any voluntary or involuntary liquidation, dissolution or winding up of Qurate Retail’s affairs. Shares of Preferred Stock are not convertible into shares of common stock of Qurate Retail.

​

Dividends. Holders of the Preferred Stock are entitled to receive quarterly cash dividends at a rate of 8.0% per annum of the liquidation price (as described below) on a cumulative basis, during the term. If declared, accrued dividends

will be payable quarterly on each dividend payment date, beginning December 15, 2020 and thereafter on each March 15, June 15, September 15, and December 15 during the term (or, if such date is not a business day, the next business day after such date). If Qurate Retail fails to pay dividends or the applicable redemption price with respect to any redemption within 30 days after the applicable dividend payment or redemption date, the dividend rate will increase as provided by the Certificate of Designations for the Preferred Stock (the “Certificate of Designations”). Accrued dividends that are not paid within 30 days after the applicable dividend payment date will be added to the liquidation price until paid together with all dividends accrued thereon.

​

The ability of Qurate Retail to declare or pay any dividend on, or purchase, redeem, or otherwise acquire, any of its common stock or any other stock ranking on parity with the Preferred Stock will be subject to restrictions if Qurate Retail does not pay all dividends and all redemption payments on the Preferred Stock, subject to certain exceptions as set forth in the Certificate of Designations.

​

On February 18, 2021, the Company declared a quarterly cash dividend of $2.00 per share payable in cash on March 15, 2021 to stockholders of record of the Preferred Stock at the close of business on March 1, 2021.

​

Distributions upon Liquidation, Dissolution or Winding Up. Upon Qurate Retail’s liquidation, winding-up or dissolution, each holder of shares of the Preferred Stock will be entitled to receive, before any distribution is made to the holders of Qurate Retail common stock, an amount equal to the liquidation price plus all unpaid dividends (whether or not declared) accrued from the immediately preceding dividend payment date, subject to the prior payment of liabilities owed to Qurate Retail’s creditors and the preferential amounts to which any stock senior to the Preferred Stock is entitled. The Preferred Stock has a liquidation price equal to the sum of (i) $100, plus (ii) all accrued and unpaid dividends (whether or not declared) that have been added to the liquidation price.

​

Mandatory and Optional Redemption. The Preferred Stock is subject to mandatory redemption on March 15, 2031 at the liquidation price plus all unpaid dividends (whether or not declared) accrued from the most recent dividend payment date. On or after the fifth anniversary of September 14, 2020 (the “Original Issue Date”), Qurate Retail may redeem all or a portion of the outstanding shares of Preferred Stock, at the liquidation price plus all unpaid dividends (whether or not declared) accrued from the most recent dividend payment date plus, if the redemption is (x) on or after the fifth anniversary of the Original Issue Date but prior to its sixth anniversary, 4.00% of the liquidation price, (y) on or after the sixth anniversary of the Original Issue Date but prior to its seventh anniversary, 2.00% of the liquidation price and (z) on or after the seventh anniversary of the Original Issue Date, zero. Both mandatory and optional redemptions must be paid in cash.

​

Voting Power. Holders of the Preferred Stock will not have any voting rights or powers, except as specified in the Certificate of Designations or as required by Delaware law.

​

Preferred Stock Directors. So long as the aggregate liquidation price of the outstanding shares of Preferred Stock exceeds 25% of the aggregate liquidation price of the shares of Preferred Stock issued on the Original Issue Date, holders of Preferred Stock will have certain director election rights as described in the Certificate of Designations whenever dividends on shares of Preferred Stock have not been declared and paid for two consecutive dividend periods and whenever Qurate Retail fails to pay the applicable redemption price in full with respect to any redemption of the Preferred Stock or fails to make a payment with respect to the Preferred Stock in connection with a liquidation or Extraordinary Transactions (as defined in the Certificate of Designations).

​

Recognition. As the Preferred Stock is subject to unconditional mandatory redemption in cash and was issued in the form of a share, the Company concluded the Preferred Stock was a mandatorily redeemable financial instrument and should be classified as a liability in the consolidated balance sheets.  The Preferred Stock was initially recorded at its fair

value, which was determined to be the liquidation preference of $100 per share.  Given the liability classification of the Preferred Stock, all dividends accrued will be classified as interest expense in the consolidated statements of operations.

​

Common Stock

Series A Qurate Retail common stock has one vote per share, and Series B Qurate Retail common stock has ten votes per share.  Each share of the Series B common stock is exchangeable at the option of the holder for one share of Series A common stock of the same group.  The Series A and Series B common stock participate on an equal basis with respect to dividends and distributions.

At the Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on June 2, 2015, the Company’s stockholders approved an amendment to the Restated Certificate of Incorporation that increased (i) the total number of shares of the Company’s capital stock which the Company will have the authority to issue to 9,015 million shares, (ii) the number of shares of the Company’s capital stock designated as “Common Stock” to 8,965 million shares and (iii) the number of shares of Common Stock designated as “Series A Liberty Ventures Common Stock,” “Series B Liberty Ventures Common Stock” and “Series C Liberty Ventures Common Stock” to 400 million shares, 15 million shares and 400 million shares, respectively.

At the Annual Meeting of Stockholders held on May 23, 2018, the Company’s stockholders approved an amendment to the Restated Certificate of Incorporation, which (i) eliminated the tracking stock capitalization structure of the Company and (ii) reclassified each outstanding share of Series A and Series B QVC Group common stock into one share of our Series A and Series B common stock, respectively.  In addition, the amendment to the Restated Certificate of Incorporation changed (i) the total number of shares of the Company’s capital stock which the Company will have the authority to issue to 8,200 million shares, (ii) the number of shares of the Company’s capital stock designated as “Common Stock” to 8,150 million shares, (iii) the number of shares of Common Stock designated as “Series A Common Stock,” “Series B Common Stock” and “Series C Common Stock” to 4,000 million shares, 150 million shares and 4,000 million shares, respectively, and (iv) the number of shares of the Company’s capital stock designated as “Preferred Stock” to 50 million shares.

As of December 31, 2020, Qurate Retail reserved for issuance upon exercise of outstanding stock options approximately 40.6 million shares of Series A Qurate Retail common stock and approximately 3.2 million shares of Series B Qurate Retail common stock.

In addition to the Series A and Series B Qurate Retail common stock, there are 4 billion shares of Series C Qurate Retail common stock authorized for issuance, respectively. As of December 31, 2020, no shares of any Series C Qurate Retail common stock were issued or outstanding.

As discussed in note 1, on March 9, 2018, Qurate Retail completed the GCI Liberty Split-Off. As part of the GCI Liberty Split-Off, all outstanding shares of Series A Liberty Ventures common stock were 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.

Purchases of Common Stock

During the year ended December 31, 2018, the Company repurchased 43,080,787 shares of Series A Qurate Retail common stock for aggregate cash consideration of $988 million.

During the year ended December 31, 2019, the Company repurchased 24,329,610 shares of Series A Qurate Retail common stock for aggregate cash consideration of $392 million.

During the year ended December 31, 2020, the Company repurchased 6,521,782 shares of Series A Qurate Retail common stock for aggregate cash consideration of $70 million.

All of the foregoing shares were repurchased pursuant to a previously announced share repurchase program and have been retired and returned to the status of authorized and available for issuance.