Deals
Dish to Buy EchoStar as Ergen’s TV Empire Shifts to Wireless
- All-stock deal valued at $4 billion for satellite business
- CEO Erik Carlson will be replaced when the deal closes
A Dish Network satellite dish on the roof of a home in Crockett, California.
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Dish Network Corp. is proposing to buy EchoStar Corp., the satellite network operator it once owned, in an all-stock deal valued at about $4 billion as billionaire Charlie Ergen works to turn his struggling legacy pay-TV business into a wireless communications company.
Every share of EchoStar will be converted into 2.85 shares of Dish, representing a premium of 12.9% for EchoStar stockholders, according to a company statement issued Tuesday. Existing Dish investors will own about 69% of the merged company. Dish shares surged as much as 9% while EchoStar fell 2%.