Following through on plans outlined in its annual report this week, the U.S. entities of QVC Group on Thursday filed under Chapter 11 at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. As previously stated, the television shopping network is heading to court with a restructuring plan already in hand, which should allow it to exit the process within 90 days.
The plan — agreed to by a majority of lenders after working on it for almost eight months — will reduce the company’s principal debt to $1.3 billion, down from about $6.6 billion. The bankruptcy applies only to the company’s U.S. operations plus one nonoperating subsidiary in Luxembourg. Customer-facing operations in the U.K., Germany, Japan and Italy are paying vendors and suppliers as usual.
Even in the U.S., business will continue more or less as usual, in part because the company closed out the year with more than $1 billion in cash and cash equivalents. There are no layoffs or furloughs planned, and employees “should fully expect to continue receiving their wages and benefits without interruption,” the company said in a press release Thursday. All claims from third-party general unsecured creditors will be paid in full or reinstated.
In court documents filed on Friday, QVC Chief Administrative Officer and Chief Financial Officer Bill Wafford described a company that was revolutionary about a half-century ago (when its HSN unit began broadcasting on the radio), but has more work to do in adapting to significant changes in shopping behavior.
QVC, which launched in the mid-1980s, and HSN “pioneered live social shopping and brought commerce into consumers’ homes,” Wafford said. “The ‘QVC’ and ‘HSN’ brands are recognizable household names for American consumers.” The broadcast business still has an engaged customer base, with more than 90% of sales from repeat customers.
But in the era of e-commerce, live-streaming and social media, televised live shopping is no longer radical. In fact, cord-cutting is rampant and “linear TV is in decline,” Wafford said.
“This trend has eroded the cash flows that historically supported QVC Group’s current capital structure,” he said.
QVC has kept up to some extent, he said. The company launched the first 24/7 live-stream a year ago and in 2025 acquired more than 1 million new customers on TikTok, a business expected to double this year. QVC Group streaming services have some 1.3 million monthly average users.
Indeed, social and digital shopping are a natural fit for the company. With more than 15,800 employees across seven countries and two well-known brands, “QVC Group has the infrastructure, vision, and support to remain a leader in the ‘live shopping experience’ arena,” Wafford said.
“The opportunities for QVC Group to fully grow into digital shopping across QVC and HSN brands are immense,” he said. “QVC Group is uniquely positioned and equipped to capitalize on those opportunities, through decades of experience with content creation and production expertise; deep vendor relationships; a mature distribution network; and brand recognition from an engaged, millions-strong customer base.”
