EchoStar prepares potential bankruptcy filing amid FCC review, WSJ reports
June 6 (Reuters) - EchoStar (SATS.O), opens new tab is considering a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing as the telecommunications services firm vies to shield its cache of wireless spectrum licenses from the threat of revocation by federal regulators, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.
The company declined to comment on the report.
Last month, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) notified, opens new tab EchoStar it was investigating the company's compliance with certain federal obligations to provide 5G service in the U.S., questioning EchoStar's buildout extension and mobile-satellite service.
FCC's actions have severely limited the company's ability to make strategic decisions regarding the growth and investment of its Boost Mobile business, according to a regulatory filing by the company last month.
EchoStar has previously disclosed that it missed roughly $500 million in interest payments, citing uncertainty around the ongoing FCC review.
U.S. satellite TV provider DirecTV terminated its agreement to acquire EchoStar's satellite television business last year, which includes rival Dish TV, over a failed debt-exchange offer.
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The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Katie Miller, Stephen Miller's wife, in a ‘tricky situation' after Musk and Trump's falling out
Katie Miller, the wife of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, recently departed from the Trump administration to work for Elon Musk, days before the spectacular falling out between President Donald Trump and the billionaire. The 33-year-old Miller was one of Musk's first hires as he established the Department of Government Efficiency and began reducing the federal workforce. She left the administration alongside him last week. Like Musk, she was designated as a 'special government employee' during her time in government, which allowed her to work for Musk and Trump, as well as in the private sector, simultaneously. Miller even helped to set up the departing press conference in the Oval Office featuring Musk and Trump, according to The Wall Street Journal. Musk and Trump's relationship fell apart in public on Thursday, with Musk unfollowing Stephen Miller on X. Friends of Miller told the paper that she was in a difficult position between Trump and Musk. 'Katie Miller was a critical reason DOGE was able to get off the ground and deliver massive cuts to waste, fraud, and abuse for the American people,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the outlet. This isn't the first time that Miller has been caught in the crossfire of a Trump feud. Miller also worked for then-Vice President Mike Pence when Trump began attacking him for not aiding him in his attempt to overturn the 2020 election towards the end of his first term. However, at the time of the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot, she was on maternity leave. In December last year, Miller became one of the first DOGE staffers announced by the then-president-elect. However, her work at DOGE soon became the catalyst for disagreements with the White House, where top Trump aides argued that she hadn't sufficiently convinced Musk to work alongside the administration. Top administration officials told The Journal that she often spoke on behalf of Musk, issued orders about what agencies should do, and how the government's work should be communicated. Officials were concerned about her continuing work for P2. However, she left the firm after The Journal published an article about her work there. She then also departed the White House to work for Musk, just before the blowup between the billionaire and the president. Miller has been described as having endless energy and as being fiercely protective of her husband. Current and previous co-workers told The Journal that she could go from charming to abrasive. Those who know her told the paper that she has a 'YOLO' tattoo on the inside of her lip. Miller has at times worked for clients while lobbying the government, simultaneously addressing government issues. She quickly rose through the ranks after being hired in 2015 by Republican U.S. Sen. Steve Daines of Montana. Former Daines aide Jason Thielman told The Journal that 'Everything was always at full speed, full throttle.' 'Sometimes, she just exhausted people, and they gave her what she wanted,' he added of her battles with reporters. She joined the Department of Homeland Security during Trump's first term before working for Pence. It was during her time at DHS that she met Stephen Miller. 'Every Trump White House had its divisions, but she was always willing to go to bat to protect the VP's prerogatives,' Pence's Chief of Staff Marc Short told the paper. Following the insurrection, Stephen Miller kept working for Trump, and she remained in Pence's office. While she was placed on Pence's postpresidential payroll, partly because she needed healthcare, according to Pence's advisors, his office subsequently severed connections with her after Stephen Miller began working with then-President Trump. He continued to target his former vice president. After joining the Republican consulting firm P2 Public Affairs following Trump's 2021 departure from office, she subsequently became the top point of contact between Musk and the 2024 Trump campaign. She often joined Musk at events and then began advising Robert F. Kennedy, who later became Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare, now known as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Pence opposed Kennedy's appointment, and in January of this year, Miller took aim at her former boss, saying that he only had 'family values' when it was 'politically expedient' and called him a 'footnote of American history.'
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The silent bloodbath that's tearing through the middle-class and rapidly flipping the US economy on its head
Elon Musk and hundreds of other tech mavens wrote an open letter two years ago about how AI was coming to 'automate away all the jobs' and upend society. It looks like we should have listened to them. Layoffs are sweeping America, nixing hundreds of thousands of jobs at Microsoft, Walmart, and other titans. The newly jobless speak of a 'bloodbath' on the scale of the pandemic. This time, it's not blue-collar and factory workers getting whacked — it's college graduates with white-collar jobs in tech, finance, law, and consulting. Entry-level jobs are vanishing the fastest — stoking fears of recession and a generation of disillusioned graduates left stranded with CVs no one wants. College grads are now much more likely to be unemployed than others, official data show. Chatbots have already taken over data entry and customer service jobs. Next-generation 'agentic' AI can solve problems, adapt, and work independently. These 'smartbots' are already spotting market trends, running logistics operations, writing legal contracts, and diagnosing patients. The markets have seen the future: AI investment funds are growing by as much as 60 percent a year. 'The AI layoffs have begun, and they're not stopping,' says tech entrepreneur Alex Finn. Luddites who don't embrace the tech 'will be completely irrelevant in the next five years,' he posted on X. Procter & Gamble, which makes diapers, laundry detergent, and other household items, this week said it would cut 7,000 jobs, or about 15 percent of non-manufacturing roles. Its two-year restructuring plan involves shedding managers who can be automated away. Microsoft last month announced a cull of 6,000 staff — about 3 percent of its workforce — targeting managerial flab, after a smaller round of performance-related cuts in January. LA-based tech entrepreneur Jason Shafton said the software giant's layoffs spotlight a trend 'redefining' the job market. 'If AI saves each person 10 percent of their time (and let's be real, it's probably more), what does that mean for a company of 200,000?' he wrote. Retail titan Walmart, America's biggest private employer, is slashing 1,500 tech, sales, and advertising jobs in a streamlining effort. Citigroup, cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike, Disney, online education firm Chegg, Amazon, and Warner Bros. Discovery have culled dozens or even hundreds of their workers in recent weeks. Musk himself led a federal sacking spree during his 130-day stint at the Department of Government Efficiency, which ended on May 30. Federal agencies lost some 135,000 to firings and voluntary resignation under his watch, and 150,000 more roles are set to be mothballed. Memes like this being shared on social media reveal how badly white-collar jobs have been hit Employers had already announced 220,000 job cuts by the end of February, the highest layoff rate seen since 2009. In announcing cuts, executives often talk about restructuring and tough economic headwinds. Many are spooked by US President Donald Trump's on-and-off tariffs, which sent stock markets into free-fall and prompted CEOs to second-guess their long-term plans. Others say something deeper is happening, as companies embrace the next-generation models of chatbots and AI. Robots and machines have for decades usurped factory workers. AI chatbots have more recently replaced routine, repetitive, data entry and customer service roles. A new and more sophisticated technology — called Agentic AI — now operates more independently: perceiving the environment, setting goals, making plans, and executing them. AI-powered software now writes reports, analyses spreadsheets, creates legal contracts, designs logos, and even drafts press releases, all in seconds. Banks are axing graduate recruitment schemes. Law firms are replacing paralegals with AI-driven tools. Even tech startups, the birthplace of innovation, are swapping junior developers for code-writing bots. Managers increasingly seek to become 'AI first' and test whether tasks can be done by AI before hiring a human. That's now company policy at Shopify. It's how fintech firm Klarna shrank its headcount by 40 percent, CEO Sebastian Siemiatkowski told CNBC last month. Experienced workers are encouraged to automate tasks and get more work done; recent graduates are struggling to get their foot in the door. From a distance, the job market looks relatively buoyant, with unemployment holding steady at 4.2 percent for the third consecutive month, the Labor Department reported on Friday. But it's unusually high — close to 6 percent — among recent graduates. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently said job prospects for these workers had 'deteriorated noticeably.' That spells trouble not just for young workers, but for the long-term health of businesses — and the economy. Economists warn of an AI-induced downturn, as millions lose jobs, spending plummets, and social unrest festers. It's been dubbed an industrial revolution for the modern era, but one that's measured in years, not decades. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, one of the world's most powerful AI firms, says we're at the start of a storm. AI could wipe out half of all entry-level white-collar jobs — and spike unemployment to 10-20 percent in the next one to five years, he told Axios. Lawmakers have their heads in the sand and must stop 'sugar-coating' the grim reality of the late 2020s, Amodei said. 'Most of them are unaware that this is about to happen,' he said. Sacked workers have taken to social media to vent their frustrations about the new tech crunch 'It sounds crazy, and people just don't believe it.' Young people who've been culled are taking to social media to vent their anger as the door to a middle-class lifestyle closes on them. Patrick Lyons calls it 'jarring and unexpected' how he lost his Austin-based program managing job in an 'emotionless business decision' by Microsoft. 'There's nothing the 6,000 of us could have done to prevent this,' he posted. A young woman coder, known by her TikTok handle dotisinfluencing, posts a daily video diary about the 'f*****g massacre' of layoffs at her tech company as 'AI is taking over,' she says. Her job search is going badly — one recruiter appeared more interested in taking her out for drinks than offering a paycheck, she said. 'I feel like s**t,' she added. Ben Wolfson, a young Meta software engineer, says entry-level software jobs dried up in 2023. 'Big tech doesn't want you, bro,' he says. Critics say universities are churning out graduates into a market that simply doesn't need them. A growing number of young professionals say they feel betrayed — promised opportunity, but handed a future of 'AI-enhanced' redundancy. Others are eyeing an opportunity for a payout to try something different. Donald King posted a recording of the meeting in which he was unceremoniously laid off from his data science job at consulting firm PwC. 'RIP my AI factory job,' he said. 'I built the thing that destroyed me.' He now posts from Porto, in Portugal — a popular spot for digital nomads — where he's founded a marketing startup. Industry insiders say it won't be long before another generation of AI arrives to automate new sectors. As AI improves, the difference between 'safe' and 'automatable' work gets blurrier by the day. Human workers are advised to stay one step ahead and build AI into their own jobs to increase productivity. Optimists point to such careers as radiology — where humans initially looked set to be outmoded by machines that could speedily read medical scans and pinpoint tumors. But the layoffs didn't happen. The technology has been adopted — but radiologists adapted, using AI to sharpen images and automate some tasks, and boost productivity. Some radiology units even expanded their increasingly efficient human workforce. Others say AI is a scapegoat for 2025's job cuts — that executives are downsizing for economic reasons, and blaming technology so as not to panic shareholders. But for those who have lost their jobs, the future looks bleak.
The Independent
2 hours ago
- The Independent
Donald Trump wants his new Air Force One as soon as possible. That could be an issue
President Donald Trump really wants to fly on an upgraded Air Force One — but making that happen could depend on whether he's willing to cut corners with security. As government lawyers finalise the legalities of accepting a luxury jet from the Qatari royal family, discussions are underway regarding modifications to ensure the aircraft's suitability for the US president. Integrating capabilities akin to those of the current Air Force One Boeing 747s could mire the project in similar delays and cost overruns as Boeing's replacement initiative. Air Force Secretary Troy Meink told lawmakers on Thursday that security modifications would cost less than $400 million, though specifics were not provided. To meet Donald Trump's desire to utilise the new plane before his term concludes, some security precautions may need to be omitted. A White House official said Trump wants the Qatari jet ready as soon as possible while adhering to security standards. The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, did not provide details on equipment issues or the timeline. Trump has survived two assassination attempts, so he's well aware of the danger he faces. However, he seems willing to take some chances with security, particularly when it comes to communications. For example, he likes to keep his personal phone handy despite the threat of hacks. He boasted this week that the government got the jet 'for free,' saying, 'We need it as Air Force One until the other ones are done.' Air Force One is the call sign for any plane that's carrying the president. The first aircraft to get the designation was a propeller-powered C-54 Skymaster, which ferried Franklin D. Roosevelt to the Yalta Conference in 1945. It featured a conference room with a bulletproof window. Things are a lot more complicated these days. Boeing has spent years stripping down and rebuilding two 747s to replace the versions that have carried presidents for more than three decades. The project is slated to cost more than $5.3 billion and may not be finished before Trump leaves office. A 2021 report made public through the Freedom of Information Act outlines the unclassified requirements for the replacement 747s under construction. At the top of the list — survivability and communications. The government decided more than a decade ago that the new planes had to have four engines so they could remain airborne if one or two fail, said Deborah Lee James, who was Air Force secretary at the time. That creates a challenge because 747s are no longer manufactured, which could make spare parts harder to come by. Air Force One also has to have the highest level of classified communications, anti-jamming capabilities and external protections against foreign surveillance, so the president can securely command military forces and nuclear weapons during a national emergency. It's an extremely sensitive and complex system, including video, voice and data transmissions. James said there are anti-missile measures and shielding against radiation or an electromagnetic pulse that could be caused by a nuclear blast. 'The point is, it remains in flight no matter what,' she said. If the Qatari plane is retrofitted to presidential standards, it could cost $1.5 billion and take years, according to a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that aren't publicly available. Testifying before Congress this week, Meink discounted such estimates, arguing that some of the costs associated with retrofitting the Qatari plane would have been spent anyway as the Air Force moves to build the long-delayed new presidential planes, including buying aircraft for training and to have spares available if needed. In response, Rep. Joe Courtney, D-Conn., said that based on the contract costs for the planes that the Air Force is building, it would cost about $1 billion to strip down the Qatar plane, install encrypted communications, harden its defenses and make other required upgrades. James said simply redoing the wiring means 'you'd have to break that whole thing wide open and almost start from scratch." Trump, as commander in chief, could waive some of these requirements. He could decide to skip shielding systems from an electromagnetic pulse, leaving his communications more vulnerable in case of a disaster but shaving time off the project. After all, Boeing has already scaled back its original plans for the new 747s. Their range was trimmed by 1,200 nautical miles, and the ability to refuel while airborne was scrapped. Paul Eckloff, a former leader of protection details at the Secret Service, expects the president would get the final say. 'The Secret Service's job is to plan for and mitigate risk," he said. "It can never eliminate it.' If Trump does waive some requirements, James said that should be kept under wraps because "you don't want to advertise to your potential adversaries what the vulnerabilities of this new aircraft might be.' It's unlikely that Trump will want to skimp on the plane's appearance. He keeps a model of a new Air Force One in the Oval Office, complete with a darker color scheme that echoes his personal jet instead of the light blue design that's been used for decades. Trump toured the Qatari plane in February when it was parked at an airport near Mar-a-Lago, his Florida resort. Air Force chief of staff Gen. David Allvin was there, too. The U.S. official said the jet needs maintenance but not more than what would be expected of a four-engine plane of its complexity. Sen. Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said it would be irresponsible to put the president and national security equipment aboard the Qatari plane 'without knowing that the aircraft is fully capable of withstanding a nuclear attack.' 'It's a waste of taxpayer dollars,' she said. Meanwhile, Boeing's project has been hampered by stress corrosion cracks on the planes and excessive noise in the cabins from the decompression system, among other issues that have delayed delivery, according to a Government Accountability Office report released last year. Boeing referred questions to the Air Force, which said in a statement that it's working with the aircraft manufacturer to find ways to accelerate the delivery of at least one of the 747s. Even so, the aircraft will have to be tested and flown in real-world conditions to ensure no other issues. James said it remains to be seen how Trump would handle any of those challenges. 'The normal course of business would say there could be delays in certifications,' she said. 'But things seem to get waived these days when the president wants it.'
