Good morning.
Nothing says summer’s over like the release of Starbucks’ fall menu. The world’s largest coffee chain unveiled its annual autumnal specials on Tuesday, including the wildly popular Pumpkin Spice Latte that comedian John Oliver once described as “coffee that tastes like a candle.”
The longtime staple of the seasonal menu joins the returning Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew, Iced Pumpkin Cream Chai Tea Latte and Pecan Crunch Oatmilk Latte. Brand new on offer is the Pecan Oatmilk Cortado, or coffee that tastes like a different candle.
AT&T Strikes $23B Deal for EchoStar 5G Spectrum Licenses
In the wireless wars, surrender is a dish best served … actually, either hot or cold is just fine as long as it’s lavish.
After spending years and billions of dollars to build a nationwide 5G network, Dish Network’s parent company, EchoStar, said Tuesday it has agreed to sell a basket of spectrum licenses to AT&T for a whopping $23 billion. Shares of EchoStar surged on news of the deal, the proceeds of which it said will go toward retiring debt and funding its growth operations. AT&T, meanwhile, says the splurge will help fuel its 5G ambitions.
If You’re Not Fourth, You’re Last
EchoStar’s 5G ambitions date to 2019 and are a byproduct of another major telecom deal, T-Mobile’s acquisition of Sprint. When reviewing that mega-merger, the US Department of Justice wanted to preserve access for US wireless customers to a fourth major carrier. Dish (which spun off from EchoStar in 2008, only to merge back into the parent company in 2023) entered the fray by acquiring prepaid wireless provider Boost Mobile and certain Spectrum assets from Sprint and T-Mobile for approximately $5 billion.
In the following years, Dish and EchoStar spent billions of dollars to build out their 5G network, which the reconciled couple said in Federal Communications Commission filings last year reached roughly 80% of Americans. The big problem? Nobody uses it:
- Boost Mobile has lost customers since Dish acquired it, servicing around 7 million wireless customers, down from around 9 million in 2020. And while that technically makes it the fourth-largest mobile carrier, it’s far from being the major competitor the FCC sought. Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T each have well north of 100 million subscribers, and together, they control more than 90% of the US market.
- In April, Elon Musk even complained to the FCC that EchoStar was essentially hogging precious airwave space for no reason. Shortly after, the agency opened an investigation into the company’s allegedly slow buildout toward becoming a true No. 4, which FCC Chair Brendan Carr indicated in July isn’t necessarily a “magic number.”
Exit Strategy: There have been more bumps for EchoStar. In May, the company copped to skipping a $326 million cash interest payment amid the FCC probe, while sources told The Wall Street Journal in June that the company was even considering filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Which is why its exit now is hardly surprising, especially given the price. According to a New Street Research note to clients seen by Bloomberg on Tuesday, AT&T is paying $9 billion more than EchoStar paid for the spectrum and about $5 billion more than the appraised value used in securitizing the assets. New Street called the sale price “a great mark-on value,” and EchoStar’s share price spiked 70% on Tuesday, following the news. All in all, not a bad payday for a distant fourth, though definitely not what Congress had in mind.
It’s Not Publicly Traded, But 10,000+ Investors Already Own This Stock
Not only have over 10,000 everyday investors bought shares, but some of Wall Street’s biggest players have, too. These are some of the big investors who backed names like Uber and eBay before they IPO’d.
The company they’re backing now? Pacaso.
Founded by a Zillow executive, Pacaso is bringing co-ownership to the $1.3T vacation home market.
And it’s been wildly successful. Over 2,000 people have owned through Pacaso, generating $110M in gross profits for the company to date. With a global expansion into top destinations like Italy and the Caribbean underway, this is just the start.
You can share in their potential, too. But the opportunity to invest ends on Sept. 18.
Join 10,000 investors by becoming a Pacaso shareholder here.*
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