Apple second only to Microsoft in cash and investments… and that’s about to change

Silicon Insider posted this interesting graph putting into perspective exactly how large Apple is, compared with the other big three tech companies out there. And it’s all about cash.

Essentially, Apple is the second most cash rich company out there, with a little under $39.8 billion in cash and short and long term securities to call upon. Microsoft’s technically ahead of them, but it’s a comparatively small lead of a paltry $0.6 billion dollars… and while Apple’s cash reserves continue to rise, Microsoft’s have leveled off over the last half year.

Then comes Google, with only $24.6 billion in cash and investments, and finally Intel, with $18.9 billion on hand.

DON'T MISS

All of these companies have major assets, but Apple is clearly positioned to become more cash rich than Microsoft in the coming months. We’re on the brink of a huge transition in the tech landscape: the day that Apple is bigger than Microsoft. About time.

22 comments »

About the author

John Brownlee is news editor here at Cult of Mac, and has also written about a lot of things for a lot of different places, including Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Kotaku, Lifehacker, AMC, Geek and the Consumerist. He lives in Cambridge with his charming inamorata and a tiny budgerigar punningly christened after Nabokov's most famous pervert. You can follow him here on Twitter.

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FineTunes
Along with the cash reserves, Apple has been making some interesting buys. Also means more money for R&D, so the future seems to bode well for Apple. Quite a change from about 15 to 20 years ago.
Matt
It will indeed be a great day when that happens. And it will be even sweeter when I can rub it in my PC friends’ faces.
Peter Kennedy
those graphs confuse me. how does M$ have a range of 15-35 billion cash reserves over the period of one month? that’s an impossible profit margin in a one month period. these must be estimates, correct?
Sent from my iPhone
CaryMG
Yay Apple !
And the iPad ….
Secret
Rub it in your PC friends faces? Macs are PCs, too.
Nima
Unless I’m reading those graphs wrong, that day already happened way back in Sep ’08, when the decline in Microsoft’s cash reserve left Apple more cash-rich for almost 6 months. So yeah, about a year-and-a-half late on this one, boys.
A reader
“Silicon Insider posted this interesting graph putting into perspective exactly how large Apple is, confined with the other big three tech companies out there.”
Confined? Perhaps you meant compared.
tyler
To be fair, cash on hand does not by any measure equal size. market capitalization is the best laymen’s indicator of a company’s size. apple=~175bn microsoft=~250 bn
Still, I had no idea they were that close.
TowerTone
“Apple is the most second cash rich company out there,”
I think you meant second most, unless there were more than one, which makes even less sense.
Lost in translation, I know.
Ken Cohen
A much more interesting question is, what do they need all this cash for? I donâ€™t think Apple typically spends more than a billion dollars to buy out another company, they seem to prefer smaller firms that own either patents or employees that Apple covets. Personally I donâ€™t like the idea of Apple becoming too big, for several reasons. Steve: pay a special dividend to your shareholders, say, $10 a share.
KenC
MSFT and Intel have ups and downs in cash because they do large share buybacks. Apple and Google have not, so their pile of cash just keeps rising.
Also, I don’t think AI backed out MSFT’s debt, which is $6B. I calculate their cash and marketable securities position at about $37B after taking out their debt.
NickBob
@Ken- “Personally I donâ€™t like the idea of Apple becoming too big, for several reasons” – informed the SEC of your position, Ken? Or the Apple Board? The market is no doubt breathlessly awaiting further elucidation on your position. Micheal Dell, who had a variation of your position in ’97, is buried in the Apple’s dust. When Steve Jobs decides that his company doesn’t have a better use for that cash, he’ll find a way to get the shareholders their value, in the meantime he’s doing ok without your insights.
Montana Bob
But the bigger Apple becomes, the more it becomes a big target of the anti-trust regulators, and those capitalist-hating Communists that rule European Union. Remember how the EU had been harassing and been bringing lawsuit after lawsuit against Microsoft and Intel?
Hari Seldon
@Montana Bob
“capitalist-hating Communists that rule European Union”
Exaggerate much?
FineTunes
“But the bigger Apple becomes, the more it becomes a big target of the anti-trust regulators, and those capitalist-hating Communists that rule European Union.”
There’s an app for that. In reality, Microsoft ran into trouble because they only allowed Explorer as their browser and third party browsers were almost impossible to install. Intel used strong arm tactics on laptop manufacturers to use their chips and not AMD.
ged
competition is good.
Microsoft’s saving Apple, has given us excellent improvements in OS.
google needs more quality competition.
http://ObamaPacman.com ObamaPacman
Chart on Apple vs Microsoft market capitalization in the past decade. Apple is getting closer to overtaking MS. =)
http://obamapacman.com/2010/01/2000-2009-decade-of-apple-conquests-even-against-microsoft/3/
Charel
Pity the Americans who know nothing of European politics except what they see and hear on Fox TV and read in Murdoch publications.
Probably the best indication on the EU political landscape is the constitution of the EU parliament. There the Conservatives are the largest followed by the Social Democrats and the Liberals.
The Communists and their sympathizers are practically non existent.
Communists are not the same as Socialists, who are better described as Social Democrats. Communists want all means of production to be state owned, a position that is anathema to Social Democrats.
Knightlie
@ged
Microsoft didn’t save Apple, contrary to MS apologists’ FUD. Apple had over $1bn in the bank at the time – MS’ $150 mil. didn’t save anything. In reality the deal was made because Microsoft were about to be taken to the cleaners for stealing code from Apple, of which they were guilty. Apple saved Bill Gates’ arse.
Montana Bob
I predict Apple will return the favor. Microsoft will have some kind of crisis in 2012. And Apple will step in and “save Microsoft”. hehehe
Brian
@FineTunes: Actually it’s pretty easy to install a Third party browser. And I thought that whole lawsuit was as nuts as the Media Player lawsuit that took place prior to that.
@Knightlie: MS did indeed HELP Apple. The amount of help may have been marginal at best or it did indeed help a lot…without looking into it in greater detail it’s impossible to say for sure. But in the late 1990s Apple was having major financial problems and was forced to engage in numerous massive layoffs. It wasn’t until Steve Jobs was placed back in the CEO position that Apple started turning around. That I think helped because of the history Jobs has with the company and increased consumer and investment interest in the company.
Regarding this whole article it’s ridiculous to think Apple has greater financial holdings than the other “BIG” tech companies. This graph is hardly complete. It doesn’t show the amount of money each company is spending per year or there overall holdings. I can assure you that both Intel and Microsoft are much more flexible in the overall investment capital that they have on hand than either Apple or Google. Intel and MS have also taken a few hits in capital from the valid and invalid lawsuits that recently took place.
http://twitter.com/vincebelpiede Vincenzo Belpiede
do you have any updates?