NEW YORK (AP) — The owner of home shopping network pioneer QVC — which for years garnered the attention of millions of TV viewers looking for a deal on baubles and housewares, is planning to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
A filing about imminent bankruptcy protection by parent company QVC Group, which also owns HSN, formerly the Home Shopping Network, arrives as long-running TV shopping networks struggle to adapt to the rapid shift by consumers now tuning in to livestreams on TikTok, or online marketplaces like Shein.
According to an annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission this week, the company said that it intends to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas after reaching a restructuring agreement with creditors.
Its goal is to emerge from bankruptcy protection before the summer is over, but the West Chester, Pennsylvania, company warned that its access to funding is difficult to predict. It noted significant fees and other costs in connection with the preparation for the bankruptcy protection.
“We cannot assure that cash on hand, cash flow from operations will be sufficient to continue to fund our operations,” it wrote.
QVC Group has attempted to revive flagging sales for some time, which in 2024 were down almost 30% compared with its peak of more than $14 billion in 2020. Shares in QVC Group, which went for over $900 a decade ago, were trading for less than $3 earlier this week.
Founded in 1986 by Joseph Myron Segel, QVC, which is short for Quality Value Convenience, built a following primarily of women aged 50 and older, according to Lawrence Duke, a clinical professor of marketing at the university’s LeBow College of Business. He said in a blog post that QVC benefited from repeat purchases by its base of viewers. But that group has aged and is shrinking, he noted.
And competition has increased substantially.
Consumers have increasingly dropped cable subscriptions and look less and less to scheduled programming, Duke said. Such programming has been replaced by live platforms such as TikTok Shop, where consumers can buy products touted by influencers with tens of thousands of followers on Instagram and YouTube. Low-cost marketplaces like Shein and Temu are also commanding more attention, Duke wrote.
QVC has significantly expanded its digital sales and expanded its presence on social media, but those maneuvers have fallen short.
QVC "competes in a crowded marketplace where attention is fragmented and switching costs are low,” Duke said.
FILE - Corporate signage is shown outside a QVC facility in West Chester, Pa., Friday, July 7, 2017. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)
ANNANDALE, Va. (AP) — Former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, a rising star in the Democratic Party before his career was derailed by sexual assault allegations six years ago, killed his wife before killing himself, police said Thursday.
Fairfax, 47, and his wife, Dr. Cerina Fairfax, 49, were found dead in their home in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Annandale after their son called 911 shortly after midnight, Fairfax County Police Chief Kevin Davis said.
The couple appeared to be going through a messy divorce but still living in the same house with their two teenage children, who were home when the deaths occurred, he said.
Cerina Fairfax said in court filings that they separated nearly two years ago and that she filed for divorce last summer.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story includes discussion of suicide. If you or someone you know needs help, the national suicide and crisis lifeline in the U.S. is available by calling or texting 988. There is also an online chat at 988lifeline.org
Justin Fairfax was recently served with paperwork telling him when next to appear in court, Davis said. In January, officers went to the home after Justin Fairfax alleged that his wife had assaulted him, he said.
“Apparently, Mrs. Fairfax, at some point during these divorce proceedings, set up a lot of cameras inside the home. We reviewed those cameras, and we corroborated that the alleged assault never occurred,” Davis said.
The couple, who met as undergraduates at Duke University, married in 2006. Cerina Fairfax ran a family dentistry practice. She also attended the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Dentistry, which honored her in 2015 as an outstanding alumna.
A profile page on her office website described her as an avid reader who liked to travel, practice yoga, go on trail runs with her Vizsla-breed dogs, and “spend time with her wonderful family.”
“It’s very sad for this community,” Davis said. “A lot of people who know the Fairfax family, everybody’s shocked. We’re shocked.”
For a brief period in 2019, Justin Fairfax seemed poised to become Virginia's second Black governor as Democratic Gov. Ralph Northam became engulfed in a scandal over a racist photo in his medical school yearbook that led to calls for his resignation. Fairfax would have automatically become governor if Northam had stepped down.
But then two women came forward accusing Fairfax of sexually assaulting them years earlier. He adamantly denied the allegations, saying they were part of a smear campaign. He was never charged.
An aide to Democratic vice presidential nominee John Edwards said Fairfax sexually assaulted her during the Democratic National Convention in 2004. Two days after she came forward, another woman accused him of raping her in 2000, when they were students at Duke.
Fairfax said the encounters were consensual and refused calls to resign. He later tried to run for governor in 2021, but was largely shunned by Virginia Democrats and defeated in the Democratic primary.
Court filings show that Fairfax had financial challenges following the sexual assault allegations, which prompted his resignation as a partner at a prestigious law firm. The IRS filed a lien against the couple for more than $91,000 in unpaid taxes that was resolved in 2021.
A former federal prosecutor and civil litigator, Fairfax first unsuccessfully sought the Democratic nomination for attorney general in 2013, then won the race for lieutenant governor in 2017.
The deaths stunned political leaders throughout the state.
“We are keeping Cerina and Justin Fairfax’s family — especially their two children — in our prayers as we all process this shocking and horrifying news,” Virginia’s Democratic U.S. senators, Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, said in a joint statement.
Fairfax had served as co-chair for Warner’s 2014 reelection campaign.
Ghazala Hashmi, Virginia's current lieutenant governor, called the deaths devastating.
“My thoughts are with their children, loved ones, and numerous friends,” Hashmi said in a statement. “Along with so many in the Commonwealth, I am filled with sorrow; I await further insights from our law enforcement officials.”
Biesecker reported from Fairfax County, Virginia. Associated Press reporters Sarah Brumfield in Cockeysville, Maryland, Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Alanna Durkin Richer in Washington, Allen G. Breed in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.
Fairfax County coroners remove a body from the home of former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, in Annandale, Va., Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Fairfax County coroners, with two bodies in the van, prepare to leave the home of former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, in Annandale, Va., Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
FILE - Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, right, and his wife, Cerina, at the inauguration of Gov. Ralph Northam at the Capitol in Richmond, Va., Saturday, Sept. 13, 2018. (AP Photo/Kevin Morley, File)
Fairfax County police confer in front of the home of former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, in Annandale, Va., Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
FILE - Virginia Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, speaks to supporters at Pink Fish restaurant in Hampton, Va., Thursday, April 8, 2021. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
Fairfax County coroners remove a body from the home of former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, in Annandale, Va., Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Fairfax County police secure the home of former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, in Annandale, Va., Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
Fairfax County coroners remove a body from the home of former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax, in Annandale, Va., Thursday, April 16, 2026. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)
FILE - Democratic candidate for Governor of Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax answers a question during a debate held in Bristol, Va., on Thursday, May 6, 2021. (David Crigger/Bristol Herald Courier via AP, File)
Police investigte the scene of an apparent domestic-related shooting early Thursday, April 16, 2026in Annandale, Va. (WJLA via AP)
