Liberty Interactive to change name to Qurate Retail

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Liberty Interactive Corp (QVCA.O), which mainly houses media mogul John Malone’s e-commerce interests, said it will change its name to Qurate Retail Group and begin using the name once it completes its communications business GCI Liberty’s split-off.

Liberty said on Thursday Mike George, who is currently heading its TV shopping unit QVC Inc, will become chief executive officer of Qurate replacing Greg Maffei, who will become chairman.

Qurate will comprise of eight retail brands including QVC, namely HSN, zulily, Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill, Grandin Road and Improvements, the company said.

Separately, Liberty Interactive reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue on Thursday as the company added more customers especially through mobile.

Qurate will trade under new tickers QRTEA, QRTEB on the Nasdaq.
However, shares of Liberty, which have risen nearly 53 percent in the last 12 months, were down 3 percent in morning trading.