Sling Founders Out of Company

**apollog** · 01-12-2009 08:36 PM

Use you and abuse you, not only the american way but also the Echostar way of life. Good Luck Guys.

**tfultz** · 01-12-2009 08:39 PM

I had a feeling that signing on with Dish would be the end of Sling's creativity and innovation....Now it's the end of Sling all together.

I guess I won't be getting my HD resolution for the Slingcatcher

**Stargazer** · 01-12-2009 09:11 PM

I'm sure they forced them out one way or another, no matter what you call it.

**navychop** · 01-12-2009 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by jdmacor

I wouldn't be surprised if their was some sort of earnout involved; namely, shares of Dish in return for a minimum one year of service. It is pretty standard procedure with acquisitions. Then again, this is all speculation...

Yep, pretty common. Despite all the gloom and doom types and their conviction Dish is evil, the acquiring company often requires the sellers' management team to commit for a year or more to smooth any transition.

They probably left on good terms, and perhaps earlier than Dish would have wanted. And no doubt, left with a non-compete agreement in place. They built their baby, as entrepreneurs do, and sold to take their profit and avoid the day to day tedium of running the business.

**jacmyoung** · 01-12-2009 10:21 PM

It is common when people are given company stocks as bonus they may not sell and cash out the shares for a year. Also you need to keep the stocks for at least a year before selling to avoid paying high capital gains tax.

But I do not know if their leaving had anything to do with the above. But I wouldn't mind cashing out a few million dollars and go on a long fishing trip to the Bahamas

I have no reason to believe this will be very bad for the continued development of the HD DVR and Sling technologies by E* because E* has been quite good on the technology side.

**Hall** · 01-13-2009 08:49 AM

This is non-news. As Sling is "integrated" into Echostar/Dish, you end up with two people doing the same or similar job. What business sense does that make ?

As others have suggested, part of the deal likely said they had to stick around for "x" months. It does suck for the Sling guys though.... They only got $380 million, right ? Not sure how long they can live on that.

**cooterbrown** · 01-13-2009 10:40 AM

Apt testament to the continuing saga that is echostar. Pi** poor company.

**sampatterson** · 01-13-2009 10:55 AM

Very normal when one company acquires another - probably contractually they had to stay a year and the year is up.

**navychop** · 01-13-2009 11:03 AM

And the engineers are still there.

**damjr** · 01-13-2009 12:40 PM

Originally Posted by navychop

Yep, pretty common. Despite all the gloom and doom types and their conviction Dish is evil, the acquiring company often requires the sellers' management team to commit for a year or more to smooth any transition.

They probably left on good terms, and perhaps earlier than Dish would have wanted. And no doubt, left with a non-compete agreement in place. They built their baby, as entrepreneurs do, and sold to take their profit and avoid the day to day tedium of running the business.

Bingo. They accomplished their goal, made a ton of cash, and are probably now sitting pretty somewhere tropical thinking of their next venture.

Besides, Charlie is the type who would demand full control. Who would want to work under those conditions?

Great job guys !!! Enjoy the time off and we're looking forward to your next innovation.