Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) is reportedly interested in widening its reach into television home shopping and is said to be in acquisition talks with Evine Live (NASDAQ:EVLV), the TV home shopping channel.
An industry source told reporters from the website TechCrunch that there have been discussions about a possible tie-up between Amazon.com and Evine, which trades on the Nasdaq and is the third-largest home shopping channel behind QVC and the Home Shopping Network.
The stage of these take-over talks and any information about the pricing are not known, according to the Tech Crunch article. However, if Amazon were to take over Evine, it would be able to sell its wares in 87 million homes as well as via Evine’s website and apps.
Like its rivals QVC and the Home Shopping Network, Evine sells an array of merchandise and occasionally works with celebrities who market its goods. In the fourth quarter of last year, Evine reported revenue of $193mln and net income of $6.4 million.
QVC’s US$2.1bn acquisition of the Home Shopping Network last year created one of the largest e-commerce retailers in the U.S. and Canada and was regarded by a number of analysts as offering a way for the two groups to compete against Amazon.com.
Amazon shares shed 2.6% at US$1,478.28 in early trade Tuesday while Evine shares climbed 34% to US$1.08 on the news.