Apple owns $52.6 billion in U.S. Treasury securities, ranking it above countries like Israel, Mexico, Australia and the Netherlands — and one of the top 25 “major foreign holders” of U.S. government debt, according to a new report.
U.S. Treasury securities, in the forms of bills, notes and bonds, are debt obligations of the U.S. government. In essence, it means that individuals are loaning money to the United States’ federal government in exchange for what amounts to the safest of investments.
A major player
In this case, though, it just serves to underline what a whale of a player Apple is on the world stage. Of this $52.6 billion, Apple owns $20.1 billion in short-term Treasury securities and $31.35 billion in long-term marketable Treasury securities, as per its latest regulatory filing.
The biggest foreign holder of U.S. Treasury securities is Japan, which stole the no. 1 position from China late last year. Japan holds $1.1113 trillion, just edging out China’s $1.1022 trillion. Holding large quantities of securities carries significant financial and diplomatic value, which underlines just how big Apple is an economic powerhouse.
Below is a list showing where Apple ranks among other countries in terms of its U.S. Treasury securities:
Japan: $1.1113 trillion
China: $1.1022 trillion
Ireland: $295.8 billion
Brazil: $269.7 billion
Cayman Islands: $266.1 billion
Switzerland: $239.5 billion
United Kingdom: $234.4 billion
Luxembourg: $207.7 billion
Hong Kong: $196.3 billion
Taiwan: $181.2 billion
Saudi Arabia: $134.0 billion
India: $127.3 billion
Russia: $108.7 billion
Singapore: $107.9 billion
Korea: $100.1 billion
Belgium: $98.7 billion
Canada: $80.2 billion
France: $74.4 billion
Germany: $68.3 billion
Thailand: $66.5 billion
Bermuda: $60.9 billion
United Arab Emirates: $60.5 billion
Apple: $52.6 billion
Netherlands: $52.2 billion
Turkey: $49.5 billion
Norway: $48.3 billion
Sweden: $40.8 billion
Mexico: $38.9 billion
Philippines: $38.2 billion
Spain: $38.2 billion
Australia: $37.0 billion
Italy: $35.6 billion
Poland: $35.0 billion
Kuwait: $31.6 billion
Israel: $30.9 billion
All other: $455.7 billion
Money, money, money!
From a financial perspective, 2017 has been great for Apple. Following its strong quarterly earnings call this week, AAPL stock opened at a new all-time high valuation for Apple. With a market cap of $830 billion, Apple once again passed the $800 billion valuation mark — just as it previously broke records as the world’s first $700 billion company two years before that.
Not bad for a company that started out of Steve Jobs’ garage!
Source: CNBC
