According to a new report from Moody’s Investors Service, there is an unprecedented concentration of cash in the tech sector, revealing that Apple, Microsoft and Google are holding a combined $391 billion in cash, which is over 23% of the entire $1.68 trillion held by the nation’s non-financial corporations. Apple is on top of the list with $215.7 billion in cash, followed by Microsoft at $102.6 billion and Google at $73.1 billion (via GeekWire).
The report notes that for the first time, the top five companies on the Moody’s cash ranking are tech companies, with Cisco and Oracle following Apple, Microsoft and Google. Technology companies overall held $777 billion in cash, which is approximately 46% of the total cash across all non-financial industries.
“Despite stronger returns of capital to shareholders, we expect the technology sector cash concentration will grind higher over the next year because of the sector’s strong cash flow generation,” writes Moody’s in the report. “The technology sector generated 63% of the total rated non-financial free cash flow in 2015, up from 37% in 2007. Excluding the energy sector, tech comprised 40% of non-financial free cash flow in 2015, similar to the 42% average since 2007.”
Amazon and Facebook came in at #17 and #18 on the list with $19.8 billion and $18.4 billion in cash respectively.
