- Source of Wealth: EchoStar, Dish, Self-made
- Age: 68
- Birth Place: Oakridge, Tennessee, United States
- Marital Status: Married (Cantey McAdam)
- Full Name: Charles William Ergen
- Nationality: American
- Date of Birth: March 1, 1953
- Occupation: Chairman of Dish Network and EchoStar Communications Corporation
- Education: Wake Forest University School of Business, University of Tennessee
- Children: 5
American satellite broadcasting mogul and one of the founders/Chairman of EchoStar Communications Corporation, Charles W. “Charlie” Ergen has a net worth of $11.7 billion as of April 2019. Ergen got his start as financial analyst at Frito-Lay while he also tried his hand playing pro poker. He switched to selling TV satellites from a truck with wife in 1980s. He gave up his CEO title at Dish after 30 years, handing reins to former Sirius CEO Joseph Clayton, to focus on big-picture deals.
In April 2010, Dish bought bankrupt retailer Blockbuster for $320 million, then snapped up broadband spectrum for close to $3 billion in bankruptcy auction. One scenario: Dish offers its 14 million subscribers a Netflix-like streaming service plus mobile voice and data. Ergen, a skilled poker player, is staying mum, saying his moves are like an episode of Seinfeld. “It seemed to all come together in the last couple of minutes.” He settled bitter lawsuit with TiVo in May 2011 paying $500 million for patent claims.