Charlie's Net Worth

[rtt2]

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=3304585

In the article it says that Charlie Ergen holds more than 240 million shares of EchoStar stock. Echostar/Dish Network stock on Friday Aug 29 closed at $37.05 per share.

Basic math tells us that: $37.05*240,000,000=$8,892,000,000

Lets round that to $8.9 billion :money:

I am sure Charlie has other investments but that is a boat load of money. He should be congratulated for actually building a company and not robbing it blind like other CEOs. But people should also realize that with a net worth this high; these new DVR fees are nothing more than a way to increase that pile of cash. I bet we can complain all we want but Charlie will never relent because he is insulated from end users anyways.

[Richard King]

these new DVR fees are nothing more than a way to increase that pile of cash.And he has a responsibility to increase the much smaller individual piles of cash of the much smaller shareholders in addition to his own. I suspect that most decisions are made with this goal in mind. As for being insulated from end users, he is very much of a hands on type person. He still shows up at the trade shows and mans the booth. He hears directly from his dealers. I would think that through the dealers he gets plenty of feedback from consumers.

[FTA Michael]

I am shocked, shocked to hear that the highest priority of most businesses is to earn as much profit as possible. ;)

[Jacob S]

He is a business man. That does not make him a bad person but sometimes greed can get to you. I will have to admit that he does seem to have a hobby in this business and does get involved very well having Charlie Chats, showing satellite launches of the new satellites going up, the shows that he has, addressing some people's issues direct by email, and so forth, although not everything is peachy, but that is expected in business.

Having that much stock, he does not have the money directly but what comes with having the majority of the stocks, the control of the company. He was willing to give that up during the merger to better the company and compete with cable even further.

[RichW]

See, he is worth that much ON PAPER. One big misstep and he could lose most or all of it.

I suspect that Charlie is positioning himself and DISH for the upcoming battle with Murdoch.
Rupert is not known to play gentelman with his competition. So in order for Dish to survive, it will have to have a war chest of its own. This means positive cash flow. If Dish can maintain a positive cash flow while Murdoch plays his tricks, it won't matter what Rup does.

[mainedish]

Charlie started the company and earned every penny. Get over it and start your own satellite company like he did.

[Win Joy Jr]

Again, it is all on paper. If he were to divest himself of a large portion of those holdings, it would create negative price pressure on the stock, forcing it downward.