Elon Musk's SpaceX to Acquire $17 Billion in EchoStar Spectrum Licenses

Elon Musk's SpaceX has entered into an agreement to acquire wireless spectrum licenses from EchoStar for $17 billion. The deal includes up to $8.5 billion in cash and up to $8.5 billion in SpaceX stock. It also will see SpaceX pay approximately $2 billion in cash interest payments on EchoStar's debt through November 2027. "For the past decade, we've acquired spectrum and facilitated worldwide 5G spectrum standards and devices, all with the foresight that direct-to-cell connectivity via satellite would change the way the world communicates," EchoStar president and CEO Hamid Akhavan . . .