Liberty Media, (NSDQ: LINTA) whose shareholders recently approved plans to split its Liberty Capital Group into two tracking stocks, announced Interactive Group Q2 revenue growth of four percent, with operating cash flow declining by 1 percent year over year. The interactive unit primarily consists of QVC, which did $1.69 billion in revenue, up 2 percent from last year. The soft growth was attributed to a challenging retail environment in the US. Figures at its Provide Commerce, BUYSEASONS and Backcountry.com lines were not broken out. The value of Liberty Interactive’s public holdings increased 40 percent to $4.5 billion, primarily attributable to the strong performance in Expedia shares over the last year.
— Starz Entertainment, a division of Liberty Capital, turned in revenue of $282 million, up 11 percent from last year. Operating cash flow was up $88 million.
Release | Webcast | Transcript (via SeekingAlpha)
Update: Staci adds: As expected, IAC’s (NSDQ: IACI) proposed spin-off of four companies was a major topic during the earnings call:
IAC Split: CEO Greg Maffei said, “We are quite pleased with Barry Diller’s planned split up of IAC. I think, first, that highlights the value of the components there, which we don’t think had been fully recognized in the marketplace, and I think it will allow us to begin a dialogue with IAC about how we are going to work together in the next phase of our relationship — not sure where that’s going to turn out, but expect it will be positive.” Chairman John Malone was a little more effusive, calling it “terrific for us,” adding, that it goes a long way toward settling his “mild” disagreement with Diller over the appropriate use of leverage.
Negotiation phase: Much as Diller did earlier in the week, Maffei said most of the questions about the spin-offs’ effect can’t be answered yet: “As far as where our super vote goes and where Barry’s proxy goes, it’s complicated. It’s somewhat related to where Barry is still CEO and what we negotiate with him.” Maffei said he can’t predict which businesses will be ultimately owned, consolidated or held at all by Liberty. Late in the call, Maffei said Liberty has what an analyst called “hard blocking rights over the ultimate IAC spin-off structure” and that “there will have to be many board deliberations at IAC before the actual spin-off can be implemented, and it will have to be a resolution of these open issues relative to the relationship between Barry and Liberty.”
— Fun Technologies: Liberty said in June it wanted to acquire the portion of the gaming firm it does not already own; during the call, Maffei said the company has a definitive agreement to acquire the outstanding 43 percent.
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