Corporate Cash Hoarding
Discussions focus on large tech companies holding massive cash reserves (e.g., Apple's $200B), debating if it's idle cash or short-term investments, what they do with it, and whether it should be returned to shareholders.
Activity Over Time
Top Contributors
Keywords
Sample Comments
A minor point, but they certainly do not have $36B cash on hand, they have it in assets that can be liquidated reasonably quickly, but companies do not keep $36B lying around, or in the bank. It is stashed in short term investments.
Probably because they have $96 billion in cash.
Don't share holders want some of this money back? 200 billion in cash just sitting there is not doing anyone much good.
any debt? i wonder what do they do with that much of cash in hand
Where do these companies keep the rest of their cash?
Not sure if this is a joke or not, but that's actually what's happening right now - many large firms are literally just stowing cash: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/these-are-the-5-us-compani...
I'm no financial expert, but wouldn't hoarding an "enormous cash pile" be a indicator of not using capital efficiently?
They are not sitting on the cash. The article worded this very poorly. While all companies hold cash for managing day to day operations, a lot of the 2 trillion or whatever the number is, is parked in CDs, Treasuries, Bonds, etc. i.e., income-generating investments. Financial statements require companies to disclose "Cash and Cash Equivalents"; much of the hoarded money is in the form of investments that can be quickly converted to cash. It would be foolish to simply park non-essential
When the company is sitting on pile of cash
Obligatory Buffett-esque: "Cash isn't always about the profit. Sometimes it's about access to it."