Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) Investor Alert: Lawsuit over Executive Pay filed

PRLog (Press Release) - Feb. 20, 2013 - An investor in shares of Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) filed a lawsuit against certain Echostar directors and officers over alleged breaches of fiduciary duties and waste of corporate assets.

Investors who are current long-term stockholders of shares of Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS), have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.

The plaintiff alleges that in 2011 the board of directors of Echostar granted the Chairman of the board and controlling stockholder 1.5 million stock options to purchase the company’s publicly-traded Class A common stock. The stock options were valued at approximately $21.6 million

However, so the plaintiff, in granting the Chairman the 1.5 million stock options, the board of directors exceeded its authority under the Echostar Corporation 2008 Stock incentive plan, which limits the amount of awards that could be granted to any individual to 800,000 for any calendar year.

Moreover, so the complaint, the entire 1.5 million stock option award was fundamentally unfair to the company and its shareholders. The stated purpose of the award was to purportedly to ensure that the Chairman had appropriate incentives tied to the performance of Echostar’s class A shares. However, so the plaintiff, at the time of the award, the Chairman already owned approximately 43.6% of Echostar’s Class A common stock, thus he already had the necessary incentive to ensure performance of Echostar’s Class A shares.

Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) reported that its annual Revenue rose from over $1.9 billion in 2009 to over $2.76 billion in 2011.

However, its Net Income fell from $364.70 million in 2009 to $3.64 million in 2011.

Shares of Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) rose from as low as $13.97 in January 2009 to as high as $38.36 per share in July 2011. However NASDAQ:SATS shares fell in the second half of 2011 to as low as $20.49 per share.

On Jan. 25, 2013, NASDAQ:SATS shares closed at $36.23 per share.

Those who are current long-term stockholders of Echostar Corporation (NASDAQ:SATS) shares have certain options and should contact the Shareholders Foundation at mail@shareholdersfoundation.com or call +1(858) 779 - 1554.

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