Microsoft

Blogs

The Microsoft Blog

« Timeline: Microsoft's secret Yahoo meetings | Main | Adjusting the Ballmer Mood Index: Frustrated »

Data: Cash balances at large tech companies

Microsoft has reduced its legendary cash balance by tens of billions of dollars in recent years through a series of buybacks, dividends and acquisitions. The importance of cash was evident in the Microsoft-Yahoo saga: Had the Redmond company succeeded in the proposed $44.6 billion acquisition, it would have needed to borrow money for the first time in its history to fund the deal.

Apple, meanwhile, has seen its cash balance soar over the same time period, closing the gap with its longtime rival.

I explored the two trends in this story in Monday's newspaper. For purposes of comparison, I also spent time last week digging through the financial statements of other selected technology companies. Here's the chart we put together to reflect all that data. Google is ~~No. 3~~ No. 4 on the list, with $12.1 billion in cash and marketable securities. That's up from $2.1 billion in 2004.

Correction, 10 a.m.: Cisco's total on the graphic below should be $22.7 billion. I mistakenly didn't include securities investments that should have been counted for purposes of this comparison. We're in the process of correcting the graphic now. Apologies for the error, and thanks to the reader who brought it to my attention.

Update, 10:25 a.m.: The corrected graphic is below.

Posted by at May 5, 2008 3:42 a.m.
Categories: Financial & Corporate, Google, Microsoft's Yahoo Bid

Comments

#125066

Posted by unregistered user at 5/5/08 8:45 a.m.

Yup, it's pretty sobering. While MSFT has mowed through a bunch of their cash and still massively underperformed, Apple has grown theirs until it's almost at MSFT's level, while leaving MSFT stock in the dust.

p.s. I believe your CSCO figure is wrong.

Report violation

#125088

Posted by Todd Bishop at 5/5/08 9:16 a.m.

Thanks for the note. Cisco lists $5.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of Jan. 26, which is the number reflected on our chart. I'm looking into it to see if there's more that I should have counted as cash.

Report violation

#125094

Posted by unregistered user at 5/5/08 9:27 a.m.

"Cisco lists $5.2 billion in cash and cash equivalents"

Your chart is comparing Cash plus ST investments. From CSCO's latest earnings report:

Q1 FY2008
10/27/2007
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $ 4,413
Investments 20,266

Report violation

#125114

Posted by Todd Bishop at 5/5/08 9:56 a.m.

Thanks, in the meantime I realized I overlooked Cisco's large investments in securities, which should have been included for purposes of this comparison. Counting those, Cisco had $22.7 billion in cash, cash equivalents and securities as of Jan. 26. (The numbers you're citing above are slightly outdated.) We're in the process of correcting the graphic now. I'm sorry about the mistake, and I appreciate you alerting me to it.

Report violation

#125128

Posted by unregistered user at 5/5/08 10:19 a.m.

"The numbers you're citing above are slightly outdated."

Yeah, sorry about that. I was rushing and cut and pasted from the wrong column thinking it was the current Q (like for most co's) versus the previous one. Bottom line, I think you'll find that CSCO should be #2 on your list.

Report violation

#208870

Posted by unregistered user at 11/2/08 7:31 a.m.

Film izle
Online Film izle
Bedava Film izle
Filmizle
Sinemalar
Sinema Seyret
Sinema izle
Video izle
Dizi izle
Dizi Seyret
Direkizle
İndirmeden izle
Youtube izle
Canlı izle
Canlı Yayın
Bilgi
Bilgibu
Bilgi bu
Popüler Bilgi
Bedava Bilgi
iyi Bilgi
Online Bilgi
Hazır Bilgi
Kaliteli Bilgi
Sadece bilgi
Memur
Memuru
Memurum
Memurumuz
Memurlar
Devlet Memuru
Sözleşmeli Memur
sivil Memur
Sohbet
Oriflame
Forum
Forumx
Forumtr
Frm
Efendi Forum
Oriflame Kozmetik
Bilgi
Yemek Tarifleri
Sohbet
Şarkı Sözleri
Site Ekle
Sevgi
Aşk Şiirleri
Yemek Tarifleri
Sağlık
Dini Bilgiler
Güzel Sözler
Video izle
Sinema
Astroloji ve Buçlar
Cinsel Hastalıklar
Fıkralar
Pastalar, Börekler, Kekler, Tatlılar, Hamur işleri, Et Yemekleri, Yemek Tarifleri
Oriflame Kozmetik
Oriflame Üyelik Formu
Cilt Bakımı
Güzellik Sırları
Oriflame Kozmetik
Oriflame Bayan Parfümleri
Oriflame Erkek Parfümleri
Oriflame Ürün Kataloğu

Report violation

! Login below to post a comment.

Unregistered users, sign up now

Or post anonymously (About this feature)

RSS
Headline widget

BLOGGER BIO

Joseph Tartakoff: P-I staff reporter

SUBMIT A TIP

E-mail or call 206-448-8221 with tips or ideas

FEATURED COMMENT

Q: Why can't Microsoft buy 'Coolness'? A: Because Coolness has a poison pill in its contract in the event of a Microsoft takeover.
-- Reader on Microsoft to sell line of "softwear"-labeled shirts