CEO Of Dish Network Parent EchoStar Gauges Bankruptcy Risk, DirecTV Merger Prospects After Company Posts Spotty Q1 Results And Stock Falls
deadline.comShares in Dish Network parent EchoStar have fallen more than 11% after the company’s lackluster first-quarter earnings report and growing uneasiness about the company’s financial state.
Hamid Akhavan, the head of EchoStar since March 2022 who added the CEO duties at Dish last November as the companies were getting set to close their merger, presided over a call with Wall Street analysts.
Charlie Ergen, who founded and ran Dish and is now EchoStar’s executive chairman, was not present for the call. Akhavan was peppered with questions about the company’s status, particularly in light of the “significant concerns” it raised earlier this year about being able to remain a going concern.
Debt repayments of about $3 billion due this year exceed the company’s cash on hand, and execs have been scrambling to secure more time and access to additional funds.
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