At the end of 2013, satellite television operator Dish Network was doing brisk business, with just over 14 million subscribers.
Dish and its sister company EchoStar (SATS) at the time represented the big bet that Charlie Ergen, a former professional gamer, made in the satellite television business in the early 1980s. In 2015, Ergen was on the Forbes 400 list and was worth more than $20 billion.
But then the cable cut came and slowly ate up those subscribers. Ergen, sensing the changing tide, began purchasing wireless spectrum as a means to eventually provide wireless service, but also saw spectrum hoarding as an opportunity.
It spent billions on it and didn’t do much to develop it, other than offering prepaid carrier service through Boost Mobile (which it acquired after the collapse of Sprint).
Dish shares fell in the years that followed. Eventually, Ergen merged it with EchoStar in 2023, but the damage was already done; By then, Ergen’s net worth had fallen below $1 billion.
But EchoStar owned spectrum potentially worth billions of dollars. This is what really saved the company from potential bankruptcy, and SpaceX is a big part of it.
Dish Network CEO Charles Ergen speaks at the Google conference in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) ·ASSOCIATED PRESS
In early 2025, Ergen attempted a last-ditch move to merge EchoStar with competitor DirecTV, but the deal fell through. With its heavy debt load, concerns grew that EchoStar would have to file for bankruptcy.
But one unexpected day a lifeline emerged. In May of last year, amid EchoStar’s troubles, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr questioned whether EchoStar had actually met its network development obligations to develop productive uses of spectrum as required by law. The FCC under the Biden administration gave EchoStar more time to deploy a 5G network, but Carr was dissatisfied with EchoStar’s progress.
A Dish Network receiver hangs in a home in Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S., February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder ·REUTERS/REUTERS
Ergen, in a “calculated move,” decided to skip EchoStar’s next interest payment, which then triggered a 30-day review and grace period with its creditors, during which EchoStar cited uncertainty over the FCC’s review of its 5G license.
Industry observers suggest this was a move to get the FCC to back down, and when Ergen wouldn’t budge (and was apparently willing to risk everything on his bluff), the FCC and Carr backed down.
Ergen met with President Trump in June, and Trump reportedly urged Carr to reach a deal. Curiously, there was a company that was looking to buy “terrestrial” spectrum, that is, terrestrial: SpaceX.
Although SpaceX’s Starlink service provided broadband Internet from space to Starlink terminals, the company had initiated a direct-to-cellular service, where customers could connect to the Internet on unmodified cell phones using a combination of terrestrial and satellite wireless connectivity.
How Starlink direct service to cell phone (or device) works ·Proposal book via SpaceX
What followed were two interesting transactions signed in September. EchoStar agreed to a $17 billion deal with SpaceX for its AWS-4 and Block H spectrum licenses, split between $8.5 billion in cash and $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock, with an additional $2 billion from SpaceX to cover EchoStar’s interest payments through November 2027.
In November 2025, in a follow-on deal, SpaceX purchased EchoStar’s AWS-3 licenses for approximately $2.6 billion in SpaceX stock.
Following the two deals, EchoStar listed in its fourth-quarter and year-end financial report that it owned $11.1 billion in SpaceX stock, valued at $212 per share, representing a $400 billion valuation for SpaceX.
EchoStar’s stake represented about 3% of SpaceX, but that $11.1 billion value was based on SpaceX’s $400 billion valuation at the time, which is now considerably higher.
SpaceX is now targeting a valuation of at least $1.5 trillion for its IPO, nearly four times the November 2025 mark. SpaceX shares are currently trading at $609 per share, with a valuation of $1.45 trillion on Yahoo Finance’s private market hub, meaning EchoStar’s stake could be worth up to $32 billion before any stock dilution.
EchoStar did not respond when asked about its investment in SpaceX, but given that the company has a valuation of $39 billion according to Yahoo Finance data, it essentially means that EchoStar is a SpaceX tracking stock.
Charlie Ergen probably disagrees with the stock-tracking claim. As part of its spectrum agreement with SpaceX, EchoStar can offer its Boost Mobile subscribers “access to SpaceX’s next-generation Starlink Direct-to-Cell broadband and voice and text services using certain spectrum-related rights and licenses that we must convey to SpaceX,” meaning EchoStar and Boost gain rights to the service.
So in theory, Ergen and EchoStar get a windfall from SpaceX’s upcoming IPO, scheduled for this summer at the earliest, and can offer Boost Mobile users favorable direct-to-cellular satellite service.
But while Ergen and EchoStar will benefit, shareholders may not.
“The private value assigned to SpaceX continues to rise, but we caution that EchoStar shareholders may not fully benefit,” Morningstar analyst Michael Hodel wrote in early March. “Management views these shares as a long-term holding, and shareholders would pay taxes on the gains upon a distribution,” meaning the value of the shares may not be unlocked, but if they are sold, the tax impact could be huge.
Ergen is reportedly reorganizing his shares among family members to minimize tax impacts. While that doesn’t help regular EchoStar investors, it’s still preferable to have high-flying SpaceX stock tied to EchoStar stock.
Additionally, EchoStar can make more deals with the remaining spectrum, whether it works well with other carriers or even SpaceX again.
“EchoStar is not a forced seller, it now has an excellent balance sheet and liquidity, and may want to hold on to the (remaining) spectrum as long as possible to obtain higher sales valuations at a later date,” TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams wrote last fall.
“EchoStar is in a position to keep all its options open and see how the hybrid MNO/MVNO (mobile operator) model develops.”
It seems that player Charlie Ergen still has some cards in his hand after all.
Pras Subramanian is Yahoo Finance’s senior transportation reporter. You can follow it on unknown and continue instagram.
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