Cash Rich: Apple Has Over $80 Billion in Cash and Cash Equivalents

Apple reported their hotly anticipated Q4 earnings earlier today.

The company, which has made a habit of absolutely torching earnings expectations over the past number of years, reported weaker than expected earnings and revenue numbers. Apple was down nearly 7% in afterhours trading.

One of the most amazing numbers from today's earnings report is the amount of Apple's mountainous pile of cash.

Apple is now sitting on $81.6 billion in cash and cash equivalents, up from $76.2 billion in the previous quarter.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Apple has seen its cash grow from $50 billion to $80 billion over the last 12 months. Apple's mountain of cash is more than the market caps of 470 of the 500 companies that are currently including in the S&P 500.

Apple could buy Disney AND Yahoo! Inc. with their pile of cash and still have some money left over.

Apple could nearly buy McDonald's with their mountain of cash (they'd be about $11 billion short).

Apple could fund roughly 3 1/2 weeks of the USA's deficit spending with their $81.6 billion pile of money.

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Apple is currently one of the most valuable publicly traded companies in the world with a valuation of nearly $400 billion (at least that was their valuation before the markets closed today).

$81.6 billion in cash. Zero debt. Steve Jobs certainly left behind a company that had a strong financial footing.

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