QVC Group: Prepackaged Chapter 11 to Cut $5B+ in Debt with HSN and Cornerstone Intact

QVC Group, Inc. and more than fifty affiliated debtors filed prepackaged chapter 11 petitions on April 16, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas (lead case number 26-90447 (ARP), Hon. Alfredo R. Pérez), seeking to eliminate over $5 billion of approximately $6.53 billion in funded debt while leaving trade vendors, employees, and Cornerstone Brands creditors unimpaired. The company said in its filing-day announcement that the restructuring will reduce the principal amount of debt as of December 31, 2025 from approximately $6.6 billion to $1.3 billion, and that the deleveraged entity will emerge as Reorganized QVC, Inc. The filing follows eight months of pre-petition negotiation with three creditor groups — the Bank Group under the $2.90 billion Revolving Credit Facility, the QVC, Inc. Notes Group representing $2.15 billion in secured notes, and the LINTA Notes Group representing $1.48 billion in unsecured holding-company notes — and is supported by a Restructuring Support Agreement executed the same day as the petitions. The Debtors filed a Joint Prepackaged Plan of Reorganization and Disclosure Statement contemporaneously with the petitions, with the court already setting a combined Disclosure Statement and Plan Confirmation Hearing for May 26, 2026, targeting emergence in approximately 90 days per the press release.

Lead Debtor	QVC Group, Inc. (50+ jointly administered debtors)
Case Number	26-90447 (ARP)
Court	U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of Texas (Houston Division)
Judge	Hon. Alfredo R. Pérez
Petition Date	April 16, 2026
Plan Type	Prepackaged chapter 11 plan of reorganization
Total Funded Debt	~$6.53 billion (plus $1.272 billion preferred equity)
Funded Debt Eliminated	More than $5 billion
DIP LC Facility	Up to $300 million; JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. as Administrative Agent
LC Cash Collateral Account	$315 million
Combined DS / Plan Confirmation Hearing	May 26, 2026 at 9:00 AM (telephone/video)
Targeted Emergence	Within two months of petition date
Claims Agent	Kroll Restructuring Administration LLC

Cord-Cutting Erodes the Linear TV Cash Flow That Built QVC's Capital Structure

QVC Group's funded-debt stack was sized against cash flows from linear television — the 24-hour, 364-day cable broadcast model that QVC pioneered after Joseph Segel's first live broadcast on November 24, 1986, and that Lowell Paxson's HSN had been running since 1981. Bill Wafford, the company's Chief Financial Officer and Chief Administrative Officer, framed the filing in his First Day Declaration as a recognition that "the time had come to address its U.S. balance sheet," because the cord-cutting trend has eroded the cash flows that historically supported QVC Group's current capital structure.

QVC Group cited a confluence of additional headwinds in Part III of the First Day Declaration: record inflation, COVID-era supply chain disruption, elevated labor costs, uncertainty around U.S. tariff policy, and a December 2021 fire at the Rocky Mount, North Carolina distribution center that the company says cost it more than 1 million customers and more than $500 million in revenue. The combined effect was an inability to invest at the level needed to fully transition to digital and live social shopping, even as the company opened a 24/7 livestream channel on TikTok in April 2025 that picked up over 1 million new TikTok customers in 2025.

The financial pressure showed in QVC, Inc.'s 2025 annual report, which reported that fiscal-year revenue declined 8% year-over-year to $9.2 billion, driven by an 8% drop in unit shipments. QxH (the U.S. QVC and HSN segment) contributed $5.9 billion of net revenue and $517 million of Adjusted OIBDA, while QVC International added $2.4 billion of revenue and $293 million of Adjusted OIBDA. The company recorded $2.395 billion of impairment charges in the first half of 2025, contributing to a net loss of $2.373 billion for the first nine months of 2025.

Operationally, QVC remains substantial despite the distress. The Debtors generated more than $9.2 billion of revenue in fiscal year 2025, employ over 15,800 people across seven countries, ship to over 200 million households across three continents via 15 television channels, and reach over 12 million customers via the QVC+ and HSN+ streaming services and social platforms. Approximately 91% of worldwide sales come from repeat customers. The Debtors shipped close to 182 million units in 2025 and offer roughly 400,000 products from thousands of brand partners including Nike, Tempur-Pedic, and Whirlpool.

$6.53 Billion in Funded Debt Across Three Creditor Constituencies

The First Day Declaration discloses approximately $6.53 billion in total outstanding funded debt obligations as of the Petition Date, plus an additional $1.272 billion in preferred equity interests. The capital structure is unusual: only the Revolving Credit Facility and QVC, Inc. Notes are secured, and they are secured solely by the stock of QVC, Inc. — not by any operating-company assets. The LINTA Notes, issued at intermediate holding company Liberty Interactive LLC ("LINTA"), are entirely unsecured.

The Revolving Credit Facility ("RCF") had $2.90 billion outstanding plus $235 million in undrawn letters of credit, with a stated maturity of October 27, 2026. The October maturity drove the timing of the chapter 11 cases: the Disclosure Statement describes the RCF as the near-term lever forcing a comprehensive solution rather than another liability-management exercise.

The QVC, Inc. Notes total approximately $2.15 billion across seven series: $44 million of 4.750% notes due 2027, $72 million of 4.375% notes due 2028, $605 million of 6.875% notes due 2029, $400 million of 5.450% notes due 2034, $300 million of 5.950% notes due 2043, $225 million of 6.375% notes due 2067, and $500 million of 6.250% notes due 2068. Each series is secured by QVC, Inc. stock under indentures dating to 2013, 2014, and 2018.

The LINTA Notes total approximately $1.48 billion across four series, including $287 million of 8.500% notes due 2029, $280 million of 4.000% Exchangeable Notes due 2029, $504 million of 8.250% notes due 2030, and $413 million of 3.750% Exchangeable Notes due 2030. Because LINTA sits as an intermediate holding company without operating collateral, LINTA noteholders sit structurally junior to the secured QVC, Inc. credit groups in any value-allocation negotiation.

Liquidity as of April 10, 2026 was allocated unevenly across the corporate structure: QVC Group, Inc. held approximately $195 million, LINTA held approximately $86 million, QVC, Inc. and its subsidiaries held approximately $1.35 billion (of which $335 million was held at QVC International), and QRI Cornerstone, Inc. and its subsidiaries held approximately $74 million. The First Day Declaration attributes those allocations to a series of intercompany cash and liability management transactions executed since 2022.

Eight Months of Pre-Petition Engagement and the Restructuring Support Agreement

Professional non-disclosure agreements were signed in early October 2025, beginning what the company describes in the First Day Declaration as eight months of stakeholder engagement before the petition date. QVC Group provided more than 22,000 pages of diligence plus extensive Excel modeling across three data rooms, covering the business plan, cash flows, trade relationships, intercompany transactions, projections, insurance, tax matters, and litigation portfolio.

The Restructuring Support Agreement, executed on April 16, 2026, the same day as the petitions, binds the Debtors and three Consenting Stakeholder constituencies: the Consenting RCF Lenders (the Bank Group), the Consenting QVC Noteholders (with cross-holdings under both QVC, Inc. and LINTA indentures), and the Consenting LINTA Noteholders. Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP filed a Joint Verified Statement under Bankruptcy Rule 2019 at docket 61 on behalf of the QVC Noteholder Group, with Porter Hedges LLP as Texas local counsel; the LINTA Ad Hoc Group is represented by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, with Marty L. Brimmage as local counsel.

The Disclosure Statement and Joint Prepackaged Plan of Reorganization describe the four pillars of the negotiated deal: trade and other unsecured creditors (including all employee and vendor claims) are unimpaired, more than $5 billion in funded debt is eliminated, QVC, Inc. emerges as Reorganized QVC, Inc. as a going concern (with Cornerstone as a subsidiary of Reorganized QVC, Inc.), and intercompany claims are settled with the support of estate fiduciaries and key creditor constituencies. Cornerstone creditors are also unimpaired.

QVC, Inc. seated independent directors Jill Frizzley and Paul Keglevic to oversee the intercompany settlement; both appeared at the first day hearing through Akin Gump's Andrew J. Pecoraro. The prepackaged structure was designed to avoid a longer free-fall case because, in the words of the First Day Declaration, a prolonged chapter 11 would unnecessarily result in larger administrative claims and greater risk to customer and supplier confidence — a posture echoed in Bloomberg's coverage of the planned filing. On the advisor side, the company's filing-day announcement named Kirkland & Ellis LLP and Gray Reed as legal counsel, Evercore Group L.L.C. as financial advisor, AlixPartners LLP as restructuring advisor, and Joele Frank, Wilkinson Brimmer Katcher as strategic communications advisor.

JPMorgan $300 Million DIP LC Facility and the Cash Collateral Bridge

QVC Group sought emergency interim approval at the first day hearing for a DIP letter of credit facility of up to $300 million administered by JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A., supported by the Declaration of Jason Keyes at docket 48. The motion explains that the Debtors had over 300 prepetition letters of credit with an aggregate face amount of approximately $281 million, the majority of which were issued under the Prepetition RCF that matures in October 2026. Without a postpetition LC facility, the Debtors would have been forced to pay vendors sooner for products that had not yet been received, particularly given the Debtors' exposure to East Asian manufacturers with multi-quarter lead times.

The DIP LC Agreement sets the commitment at up to $300 million in letters of credit, with existing prepetition LCs deemed issued under the new facility on the closing date. The Debtors are required to fund and maintain a $315 million cash collateral account in an interest-bearing account to secure the LCs, and JPMorgan receives valid, enforceable, non-avoidable, automatically perfected first-priority liens on the LC Cash Collateral under section 364(c)(2). Letters of credit issued under the facility have a maximum 12-month expiration from issuance.

Termination terms run the earliest of six dates: six months from the Petition Date, the effective date of a plan of reorganization or liquidation, dismissal or chapter 7 conversion, the closing of a section 363 sale of substantially all assets, or the occurrence of an Event of Default. Separately, the Debtors asked the court to grant claims arising under a pre-existing Citibank LC Agreement administrative expense priority under section 503(b)(1), in recognition of pre-petition LC accommodations Citibank made in the weeks before the filing. Per the Courtroom Minutes at docket 71, the DIP LC motion was granted on an interim basis pending entry of an amended proposed order.

First Day Hearing and Operational Continuity

The first day hearing began at 1:01 PM Central Time on April 17, 2026 and ran 1 hour and 43 minutes before Judge Pérez, with Wafford's First Day Declaration, the Keyes Trade Claims Declaration, and the Keyes DIP Declaration all admitted into evidence. Kirkland & Ellis LLP appeared as lead debtors' counsel, with Joshua A. Sussberg, Chad J. Husnick, Aparna Yenamandra, Mark McKane, Michael P. Esser, Gabrielle Abbe, Alan McCormick, and Gabriela Z. Hensley admitted pro hac vice; Porter Hedges LLP serves as Texas local counsel through Jason S. Brookner.

Final orders were entered for the standard operational first-day relief: wages, salaries, and benefits, utilities adequate assurance, customer and credit card programs, insurance and surety bonds, taxes and fees, and customer-data redaction. The court also entered the Order Scheduling a Combined Disclosure Statement and Plan Confirmation Hearing, setting May 26, 2026 at 9:00 AM as the combined hearing date and approving the related solicitation procedures.

Interim cash management relief was granted with a final hearing scheduled for May 8, 2026 at 11:00 AM in Courtroom 400 in Houston, and the All Trade Claims Motion was granted on an interim basis with the same final hearing date. Two motions — the stock transfer restriction motion at docket 12 (designed to preserve the Debtors' net operating loss carryforwards) and the DIP LC Facility motion at docket 53 — were granted on an interim basis pending entry of amended proposed orders.

QVC, Inc. and Cornerstone Brands as the Going-Concern Cores

The plan structure preserves two operating cores. QVC, Inc., the primary operating subsidiary, will emerge as Reorganized QVC, Inc. with a deleveraged balance sheet and continued ownership of the QVC and HSN brands. The First Day Declaration characterizes the plan as a balance sheet restructuring rather than an operational restructuring, with no contemplated discontinuation of either consumer brand and no announced layoffs or furloughs. According to Reuters reporting on the planned filing, the company confirmed that vendors, suppliers, and other unsecured creditors would be paid in full and that no employees were being laid off as part of the financial restructuring process. Local coverage from WHYY noted that QVC remains one of the largest employers in Chester County, Pennsylvania, with its corporate headquarters at 1200 Wilson Drive in West Chester.

Cornerstone Brands, Inc. ("Cornerstone" or "CBI") — the four-brand home and apparel lifestyle group comprising Ballard Designs, Frontgate, Garnet Hill, and Grandin Road — will emerge as a subsidiary of Reorganized QVC, Inc. Cornerstone has its own separate corporate headquarters in West Chester, Ohio, distinct from QVC Group's headquarters in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Cornerstone's creditors are unimpaired alongside trade creditors generally. The Cornerstone brands mailed over 75 million catalogs in 2025 and operate 35 retail and outlet stores.

QVC Group is also running a parallel pre-petition process to secure a committed exit ABL facility, having launched the search before filing with both existing creditors and a third-party market check. The exit financing is intended to support QVC, Inc.'s post-emergence working-capital needs and to take out the DIP LC Facility before its six-month maturity.

Key Timeline

Frequently Asked Questions

When did QVC Group file for chapter 11?

QVC Group, Inc. and over fifty affiliated debtors filed prepackaged chapter 11 petitions on April 16, 2026, in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas. The lead case is 26-90447 (ARP) before Hon. Alfredo R. Pérez.

Will QVC and HSN keep operating during bankruptcy?

Yes. The plan is a balance-sheet restructuring designed to preserve QVC, Inc. and Cornerstone Brands as going concerns. QVC and HSN will continue broadcasting, shipping products, and operating their streaming and social commerce platforms. The First Day Declaration specifies that there are no contemplated brand discontinuations, layoffs, or furloughs in connection with the financial restructuring.

Are vendors and trade creditors getting paid?

Yes. Trade and other general unsecured creditors of the filing entities — including all employee and vendor claims — are unimpaired under the prepackaged plan. The Debtors filed an All Trade Claims Motion at docket 19 seeking authority to pay prepetition trade obligations, which the court granted on an interim basis at the first day hearing. Cornerstone Brands creditors are also unimpaired.

How much debt is being eliminated?

The Restructuring Support Agreement targets elimination of more than $5 billion in funded debt obligations out of approximately $6.53 billion in total funded debt as of the petition date, plus an additional $1.272 billion in preferred equity. The deleveraging affects creditors under the $2.90 billion Revolving Credit Facility, $2.15 billion in QVC, Inc. Notes, and $1.48 billion in LINTA Notes.

When will QVC emerge from bankruptcy?

The court has scheduled a combined Disclosure Statement and Plan Confirmation Hearing for May 26, 2026. The Restructuring Support Agreement contemplates emergence in less than two months from the petition date, putting the targeted emergence in mid-June 2026.

Who are the key advisors in the case?

Kirkland & Ellis LLP serves as lead debtors' counsel, with Porter Hedges LLP as Texas local counsel. Kroll Restructuring Administration LLC serves as claims, noticing, and solicitation agent. The QVC Noteholder Group is represented by Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP and Porter Hedges. The LINTA Ad Hoc Group is represented by Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP. JPMorgan Chase Bank, N.A. is the Administrative Agent on the DIP LC Facility. Qurate Retail Group, Inc. and Liberty Interactive LLC are represented by Milbank LLP. Akin Gump's Andrew J. Pecoraro represents the independent directors of QVC, Inc., Jill Frizzley and Paul Keglevic.

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