Charlie Ergen, the billionaire chairman and former CEO of Dish Network, took home $94.7 million in total pay for 2020, according to an SEC proxy filing issued Friday.
Ergen earned $2.35 million for running the satellite TV service in 2019 and $3.1 million in 2018. His base salary was $888,462 in 2020, against salaries of $1 million received in each of the two previous years. Ergen also received $91.8 million in option awards last year to bump up his overall pay package.
Ergen stepped down in December 2017 from his role as CEO of the company he co-founded and was replaced by Erik Carlson, who was promoted from president and COO.
At the same time, Ergen remains a major presence at Dish Networks as it sustains continued satellite TV subscriber losses amid competition from Netflix and Amazon Prime and aggresively expands into the 5G wireless phone business.
Dish Network reported losing 133,000 net pay TV subscribers in the fourth quarter of 2020, compared with a loss of 194,000 in the year-ago period and a gain of 116,000 in the third quarter of 2020.
The latest losses amid cord-cutting includes subscribers to the traditional Dish pay TV service, as well as the Sling TV streaming service.
Carlson’s compensation for 2020 was $3.31 million, compared to total pay of $1.007 million a year earlier, as he received $2.4 million in option awards.
The SEC proxy statement also indicated that CFO Paul Orban earned a total pay package of $1.12 million last year, against $1.64 million in 2019.
