Employee Benefit Plans

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2023

Employee Benefit Plans

Employee Benefit Plans

10.Employee Benefit Plans

Employee Stock Purchase Plan

Our employees may participate in the EchoStar employee stock purchase plan (the “ESPP”), in which EchoStar is authorized to issue up to 5.0 million shares of Class A common stock. At December 31, 2023, EchoStar had 0.5 million shares of Class A common stock which remain available for issuance under the ESPP. Substantially all full-time employees who have been employed by EchoStar for at least one calendar quarter are eligible to participate in the ESPP. Employee stock purchases are made through payroll deductions. Under the terms of the ESPP, employees may not deduct an amount which would permit such employee to purchase EchoStar’s capital stock under all of EchoStar’s stock purchase plans at a rate which would exceed $25,000 in fair value of capital stock in any one year. The purchase price of the stock is 85% of the closing price of EchoStar’s Class A common stock on the last business day of each calendar quarter in which such shares of EchoStar’s Class A common stock are deemed sold to an employee under the ESPP.

401(k) Employee Savings Plans

EchoStar sponsors a 401(k) Employee Savings Plan (the “DISH Network 401(k) Plan”) for our eligible employees. Voluntary employee contributions to the DISH Network 401(k) Plan may be matched 50% by EchoStar, subject to a maximum annual contribution of $2,500 per employee. Forfeitures of unvested participant balances which are retained by the DISH Network 401(k) Plan may be used to fund matching and discretionary contributions. EchoStar’s Board of Directors may also authorize an annual discretionary contribution to the DISH Network 401(k) Plan, subject to the maximum deductible limit provided by the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended. These contributions may be made in cash or in EchoStar’s stock.

The following table summarizes the expense associated with our matching contributions and discretionary contributions:

	For the Years Ended December 31,
Expense Recognized Related to the 401(k) Plan	2023		2022		2021
	(In thousands)
Matching contributions, net of forfeitures	$	10,966	$	10,150	$	7,525
Discretionary stock contributions, net of forfeitures	$	52	$	11,150	$	24,347