Apple’s Cash Holdings and Capital Returns

At the end of 2017, Apple’s (AAPL) bank balance was $285.1 billion, while Microsoft’s (MSFT) was $142.8 billion, Alphabet’s (GOOGL) was $101.9 billion, Facebook’s (FB) was $41.8 billion, and Amazon’s (AMZN) was $31 billion. The company disclosed that $269 billion, or 94% of its total cash holdings, is sitting in offshore accounts. Apple is capitalizing on the recent US tax cut to repatriate its offshore cash—at least most of it, as it has quoted a repatriation tax bill of $38 billion.