Charlie Ergen

Charles William Ergen is an American billionaire businessman and the co-founder and chairman of EchoStar Corporation, a publicly traded provider of satellite and internet services headquartered in Englewood, Colorado. He co-founded the company in 1980 as EchoSphere Corporation, selling satellite dishes from the back of a truck in Colorado, and later launched the Dish Network pay-TV subsidiary in 1995. Following the December 2023 merger of EchoStar and Dish Network, he serves as chairman of the combined entity, which has over 4.8 million pay-TV subscribers. He is best known for building one of the largest satellite television and communications companies in the United States and for his advocacy on consumer satellite television rights.