EchoStar’s headquarters in Englewood, Colorado. Photo: EchoStar

EchoStar is still not ready to give more insight into how it plans to deploy capital after it closes the sale of spectrum rights to SpaceX. 

Leadership CEO Hamid Akhavan and Chairman Charlie Ergen didn’t give a business update in its first quarter financial call on Monday, and instead mostly took questions from investors about what its SpaceX holdings will look like after the spectrum sale.

Overall, EchoStar reported $15 billion in revenue in 2025, down 5% compared to 2024. The company’s Broadband and Satellite Services segment, including Hughes Network Systems, posted $1.5 billion in revenue, down 8% year-over-year. 

EchoStar lost 144,000 satellite broadband subscribers during the year, ending 2025 with 739,000 broadband subscribers.

Akhavan said EchoStar is waiting for final regulatory approval for the spectrum sale and expecting the influx of capital during the first half of this year. Until the deal closes, EchoStar does not have equity in SpaceX. 

He told investors the company’s priority is to maximize shareholder returns. 

“It would be difficult and potentially misleading for us to provide significant detail on most of these topics at this time. EchoStar is in the midst of a large-scale positive transformation arising from its vision, long horizon of strategic bets and decades of diligent execution. We feel confident about our ability to continue operating on the same success principles, and navigate for the best shareholder outcome in the long run,” Akhavan said. 

Last year, the company announced it is forming a new entity EchoStar Capital that is focused on capital management and M&A to manage the capital from the recent transactions, led by Akhavan.

Between a $17 billion transaction in a mix of cash and SpaceX stock, and a separate $2.6 billion in SpaceX stock, EchoStar’s stake in SpaceX is around 2.8 percent. 

In terms of how a SpaceX IPO would impact EchoStar, Akhavan said the company will “maximize our options around the timing whenever that shows up and what options we might have,” he said. “In terms of holding the size of the equity we have from SpaceX, I think we’re very happy with that at thEis point. I don’t think we are actively looking to make any transactions at this point based on that.” 

Ergen was asked about his perspective on the reports that together, SpaceX and xAI are worth $1 trillion. 

“I don’t think any amount of valuation is probably crazy there. Obviously, we’re not privy to their numbers,” Ergen said. “We invested on faith and we invest in people, and we got the best people we can invest in. I’m anxious to see if they do in fact, do an IPO. Obviously, there will be a lot of things to look at.” 

Ergen said to expect more of an update from EchoStar after the second quarter for a closer look at where the company is headed.