Satellite mogul Charlie Ergen, the billionaire founder and chairman of Dish Network and EchoStar, has cemented his reputation as a wild card with a surprise $2 billion-plus bid for Clearwire as part of his push into the wireless industry. The former professional card player, who made his fortune after starting out selling satellite dishes door-to-door, has spent more than $3 billion on wireless spectrum assets in the past few years in a bid to diversify Dish Network beyond satellite pay-television.Ergen's latest bet counts as his boldest yet to become a player in the wireless space and sets the stage for a battle with rival Sprint Nextel for Clearwire Corp.At the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas this week, Ergen joked with trade show attendees around the Dish booth, and was polite and friendly - a persona in stark contrast to his usual hard-charging approach.As the 59-year-old pressed the flesh, his company was making an unsolicited $2.28 billion bid for Clearwire, trumping Sprint's $2.2 billion offer.
DISH Network Corporation is a pay-television (TV) provider, with approximately 13. Shares of DISH fell by 1.02% or $-0.37/share to $35.97. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $26.12 and as high as $37.92. On average, 3335210 shares of DISH exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3043918.
Sprint Nextel Corporation (Sprint) is a holding company, with its operations primarily conducted by its subsidiaries. Shares of S traded higher by 0.17% or $0.01/share to $5.97. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $2.10 and as high as $6.04. On average, 56085900 shares of S exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 65518800.
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