The owner of QVC is buying online flash deal business Zulily in a cash-and-stock deal valued at approximately $2.32 billion.

While Zulily's sales topped $1 billion last year, its growth has slowed and its shares have been in decline since February of last year. The per-share price paid by QVC is below the $22 Zulily got during its initial public offering in November 2013, and far lower than the $73.50 that company shares hit shortly after its IPO. The companies put the transaction's value at $2.4 billion.

Zulily has had problems keeping active shoppers on its site. Zulily greatly expanded the products on its site to change that, but CEO Darrell Cavens said that the company may have gone too far in that regard. Customers began to complain that they could no longer search through the site as quickly as they had grown accustomed.