DISH Network is allegedly cutting jobs as the company moves to reduce operational costs and expenses throughout the business. DISH Network has been restructuring the company since 2020, and this is not the first round of layoffs to have occurred since. DISH has laid off around 3,000 employees in recent years. The exact number of staffers terminated since last Friday has not been released yet.
“Like most businesses, we continually evaluate and adjust our workforce to meet the needs of our business,” said a DISH Network representative as reported by LightReading. “While there may be fluctuations on some teams due to functional demands and performance issues, we are actively hiring throughout the company.”
Business is not booming for DISH Network in recent years and it doesn’t look like the company is going to bounce back any time soon. Share prices have dropped significantly this year and DISH has acquired quite a bit of debt.
Financial analyst Raymond James had the following to say on the matter last month:
“Given the dramatic downturn in DISH’s debt and equity year-to-date, along with a significant increase in interest rates in 2022 and 2023, any financing will likely be very expensive for the company. But we feel that the achievement of the 70% [network converge] deadline, along with a pause in the buildout capex and an expected significant step down in the transition services agreement (TSA) with T-Mobile, should meaningfully reduce the burn rate, improve the near-term cash flow profile and hopefully help lower the company’s cost of capital.”
DISH Network has been updating its network to increase coverage of its new 5G wireless network, which has proven costly. The company has also been considering merging with DIRECTV for years, though its financial state has been holding up any potential agreement. As reported earlier this month, DISH is entertaining the idea of a merger deal with EchoStar, a satellite communications provider.
“Dish’s capital structure may be unsustainable long term given elevated interest rates and significant refinancing requirements in 2024 and beyond that may require it to operate with lower levels of debt to generate positive cash flow,” wrote the financial analysts at S&P Global Ratings in an April report.