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Fortune

Sasha Rogelberg

A dying satellite company sold spectrum to Elon Musk—and turned $11.1 billion in SpaceX stock into the Fortune 500's best shareholder return

SpaceX Elon Musk EchoStar Charlie Ergen United States ATT Nicholas Owens IPO FCC Starlink

Elon Musk, wearing all black, smiles and looks to the side. (Credit: Jonathan Newton/The Washington Post—Getty Images)

A beleaguered satellite company on the verge of bankruptcy a year ago has become the Fortune 500’s latest success story in shareholder returns: its stock price soared 430% since the beginning of last year, including nearly 375% in 2025 alone.

EchoStar, which sits at No. 302 on the Fortune 500 list, released this Wednesday, saw a dramatic turnaround in 2025 after it sold its wireless spectrum to SpaceX in September 2025 for $17 billion—with $8.5 billion paid in cash and then $8.5 billion in equity, or roughly 2% to 3% of the Elon Musk-led company. With $11.1 billion in SpaceX equities after SpaceX bought another $2.6 billion in spectrum in November 2025, EchoStar has gone from a limping business to a mouth-watering public market proxy ahead of SpaceX’s initial public offering later this month.

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