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International Herald Tribune

By Rebecca Barr

Liberty Global, the largest owner of cable television systems outside the United States, said Wednesday that it planned to expand its home-shopping unit, QVC, in Europe and Asia.

"There are international expansion opportunities and management is actively pursuing those," said Mark Carleton, senior vice president. He did not specify the countries.

Liberty also hopes to expand Internet sales and may make acquisitions to increase revenue at QVC. The home-shopping network had $4.42 billion in sales in the first nine months of 2005. The QVC Web site had sales of about $1 billion last year, Carleton said.

Separately, Greg Maffei took over as chief executive of Libery Media, the parent of Liberty Global, on Wednesday after joining the company in November. Maffei, the former president of Oracle and former chief financial officer at Microsoft, succeeds John Malone.

Maffei will assist Malone, who remains chairman, in making acquisitions and creating a new tracking stock for some businesses, the company said. Liberty Media is likely to expand its holdings with more purchases that will complement existing assets, Maffei, 45, said in January. Malone, 64, built Liberty by buying stakes in media companies.

Maffei takes over from Robert Bennett, who in August said he would leave the company to run a spinoff, Discovery Holding. Shares of Libery Media, which is based in Englewood, Colorado, slipped 1 cent to $8.23 in afternoon trading.