Charles Ergen $8.9 billion EchoStar. Denver. 50. Married, 5 children
No love lost for regulators. First, feds canned EchoStar's $25 billion bid for DirecTV. Now FCC (news - web sites) considering rival $6.6 billion bid by Rupert Murdoch for controlling 34% stake. Silver lining: outpacing larger DirecTV in new customers--1.4 million vs. 1.1 million in 2002. Former Frito-Lay financial analyst started EchoStar in 1980 to beam pictures to rural customers; today it has 9 million subscribers.
