By James Rogers
EchoStar’s stock heads further into record territory after SpaceX deal, on the heels of AT&T deal that had fueled a 70% rally
EchoStar’s stock soared Monday after the company announced a $17 billion deal to sell spectrum licenses to Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Shares of EchoStar Corp. soared Monday after the satellite and wireless company clinched a $17 billion deal to sell spectrum licenses to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is looking to enhance wireless coverage.
The two companies are also entering into a long-term commercial agreement that will give EchoStar’s (SATS) Boost Mobile subscribers access to SpaceX’s Starlink direct-to-cell service.
The spectrum will be used for Starlink to have its own “standalone spectrum position” for a more robust direct-to-cell service through EchoStar’s Boost, Citi analyst Michael Rollins wrote in a note.
“We’re so pleased to be doing this transaction with EchoStar as it will advance our mission to end mobile dead zones around the world,” Gwynne Shotwell, chief operating officer at SpaceX, said in a statement.
The deal for EchoStar’s AWS-4 and H-block spectrum licenses consists of up to $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX shares. The agreement also sees SpaceX fund approximately $2 billion in cash interest payments on EchoStar debt through November 2027.
EchoStar said it will deploy the proceeds to retire certain debt obligations, among other uses.
The stock ended Monday’s session up 19.9% to register another record-high close, after closing at record highs in the past two sessions.
The SpaceX announcement comes hot on the heels of a major deal with AT&T Inc. (T), announced Aug. 26, that saw EchoStar agree to sell 3.45 GHz and 600 MHz spectrum licenses to the telecom giant for approximately $23 billion. As on Monday, the company said then that the proceeds will be used to help pay down debt. That deal had sent the stock rocketing 70.3%, its biggest one-day gain in 17 years.
In its statement Monday, EchoStar also said that its spectrum sales will address its ongoing dispute with the Federal Communications Commission. “EchoStar anticipates this transaction with SpaceX along with the previously announced spectrum sale will resolve the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) inquiries,” it said.
EchoStar has been locked in a dispute with the FCC over its wireless spectrum. In May, the agency announced a review of EchoStar’s wireless and spectrum licenses.
In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in late May, EchoStar said that the FCC’s public notices have materially and adversely affected the company “by creating uncertainty over its spectrum rights and effectively freezing its ability to make decisions regarding its 5G network buildout.”
Following a record monthly gain of 89.6% in August, EchoStar shares are up nearly 252.1% in 2025, outpacing the S&P 500 index’s SPX gain of more than 10%.
It is not just EchoStar’s share price that has risen. Since Aug. 26, when the AT&T deal was announced, the price performance of EchoStar’s 3.875% convertible bond, maturing in 2030, has risen dramatically, as the following chart from data-solutions provider BondCliQ shows.
Year-to-date performance of EchoStar 3.875% convertible bonds maturing 2030
-James Rogers
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09-08-25 1831ET
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