When Zulily, the flash-sales site for mothers, began life as a publicly traded company in fall 2013, it found plenty of favor among investors, who pushed its stock up 70 percent on its first trading day.

Now, as the online retailer prepares to sell itself to the parent company of QVC, it is in a much humbler state.

Zulily’s agreement to sell itself to Liberty Interactive, announced Monday, values the five-year-old company at $2.4 billion, or $18.75 a share in cash and stock. That is 15 percent below where it priced its initial public offering in fall 2013, and less than half of the $37.70 the company’s shares closed at in their first day of trading.

Moreover, the deal is only the latest instance of a company going public, then selling itself relatively shortly afterward. Last week, Yodlee, a financial information company, agreed to sell itself to Envestnet less than a year after its initial public offering.