How Charlie Ergen’s SpaceX windfall could net billions

By the end of 2013, satellite TV operator Dish Network had a nice business going, with just over 14 million subscribers.

Dish, and its sister company EchoStar (SATS), at the time represented the big bet that Charlie Ergen, a onetime professional gambler, made on the satellite TV business in the early 1980s. By 2015, Ergen was on the Forbes 400 list and was worth over $20 billion.

But then cord-cutting came along and slowly ate into those subscribers. Ergen, sensing the changing tide, started buying up wireless spectrum as a means to eventually provide a wireless service, but he also saw hoarding the spectrum as an opportunity.

He spent billions on it and didn’t do much to develop it, other than offering prepaid carrier service through Boost Mobile (which he acquired from Sprint’s collapse).

Dish’s stock tumbled in the years that followed. Eventually, Ergen merged it with EchoStar in 2023, but the damage was done; Ergen’s net worth had dipped below $1 billion by then.

But EchoStar held potentially billions of dollars’ worth of spectrum. This is what actually saved the company from a possible bankruptcy — and SpaceX is a big part of it.

FILE - In this Thursday, May 20, 2010, file photo, Dish Network CEO Charles Ergen speaks at the Google conference in San Francisco. Ergen, the founder of satellite TV company Dish, is stepping aside as CEO to focus on the company's wireless business, but he will remain chairman. The new CEO, Dish Network Corp. president Erik Carlson, will report to Ergen. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) — Dish Network CEO Charles Ergen speaks at the Google conference in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File) · ASSOCIATED PRESS

In early 2025, Ergen tried a last-ditch move to merge EchoStar with its competitor DirecTV, but the deal fell through. With its heavy debt load, concern grew that EchoStar would have to file for bankruptcy.

But a lifeline emerged on an unexpected day. In May of last year, in the midst of EchoStar’s troubles, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr questioned whether EchoStar had truly met its network build-out obligations to develop productive uses of the spectrum as required by law. The FCC under the Biden administration granted EchoStar more time to deploy a 5G network, but Carr was not pleased with EchoStar’s progress.

A Dish Network receiver hangs on a house in Somerville, Massachusetts, U.S., February 21, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder · REUTERS / REUTERS

Ergen, in a “calculated move,” decided to skip EchoStar’s upcoming interest payment, which then triggered a 30-day review and grace period with his creditors, during which EchoStar cited uncertainty about the FCC’s review of its 5G license.

Industry watchers suggest this was a move to get the FCC to back off, and with Ergen not giving in (and apparently fine to gamble it all away in his bluff), the FCC and Carr backed off.

Ergen met with President Trump in June, and Trump reportedly urged Carr to make a deal. Interestingly, there was one company out there looking to buy “terrestrial,” i.e., land-based spectrum — SpaceX.

Though SpaceX’s Starlink service provided broadband internet from space to Starlink terminals, the company had started a direct-to-cell service, where customers could connect to the internet on unmodified cell phones using a combination of terrestrial wireless and satellite connectivity.

How Starlink's direct-to-cell (or device) service works — How Starlink’s direct-to-cell (or device) service works · Pitchbook via SpaceX

What followed were two interesting transactions inked in September. EchoStar agreed to a $17 billion deal with SpaceX for its AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses, split into $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, a follow-on deal had SpaceX buying EchoStar’s AWS-3 licenses for approximately $2.6 billion in SpaceX stock.

After the two deals, EchoStar listed in its Q4 and end-of-year financial report that it held $11.1 billion in SpaceX stock, valued at $212 a share, at a $400 billion valuation for SpaceX.

EchoStar’s stake represented around 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, almost four times the November 2025 mark. Currently, SpaceX’s stock is trading at $609 per share, with a $1.45 trillion valuation on Yahoo Finance’s private market hub, meaning EchoStar’s stake could be worth as much as $32 billion before any stock dilution.

EchoStar did not respond when reached for comment on its SpaceX investment, but with the company sporting a $39 billion valuation per Yahoo Finance data, it essentially means EchoStar is a SpaceX tracking stock.

Charlie Ergen likely doesn’t agree with the tracking stock claim. As part of its spectrum deal with SpaceX, EchoStar can offer its Boost Mobile subscribers “access to SpaceX’s next-generation Starlink Direct-to-Cell text and voice and broadband services utilizing certain rights and licenses related to the Spectrum that are to be conveyed by us to SpaceX,” meaning EchoStar and Boost get dibs on the service.

So in theory, Ergen and EchoStar get a windfall from the upcoming SpaceX IPO, slated for this summer at the earliest, and can offer Boost Mobile users favorable satellite direct-to-cell service.

But while Ergen and EchoStar stand to benefit, shareholders might not.

“The private value assigned to SpaceX continues to increase, but we caution that EchoStar shareholders may not benefit fully,” Morningstar analyst Michael Hodel wrote in early March. “Management views these shares as a long-term holding, and shareholders would be taxed on gains upon a distribution,” meaning the value of the shares may not be unlocked, but if sold, the tax hit could be huge.

Ergen is reportedly reshuffling his shares among family members to minimize tax hits. While that doesn’t help regular EchoStar investors, having high-flying SpaceX stock tied to EchoStar shares is still preferable than not.

In addition, EchoStar can do more deals with its remaining spectrum, whether it plays nicely with other carriers, or even SpaceX again.

“EchoStar is not a forced seller, now has an excellent balance sheet and liquidity, and may desire to hold onto the [remaining] spectrum as long as possible for higher sale valuations at a later date,” TD Cowen analyst Gregory Williams wrote last fall.

“EchoStar is in a position to keep all of its options open and see how the hybrid MNO/ MVNO [mobile carrier] model develops.”

It seems the gambler Charlie Ergen is still holding some cards, after all.

Pras Subramanian is the Lead Transportation Reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.

Click here for the latest technology news that will impact the stock market

Read the latest financial and business news from Yahoo Finance

Source link