You've probably heard it before: Apple has more money in the bank than any other corporation on Earth, thanks to huge profit margins on its products and a run over nearly two decades leading in the consumer technology industry. It has been called the richest, most successful company in the history of the world. But one part of that narrative isn't true anymore: Apple no longer has the biggest financial reserves of any company on Earth.
According to a report in Financial Times, that label may now be applied to a different tech giant: Alphabet, Google's parent company. As of this year's second financial quarter, Alphabet now has $117 billion in reserve, compared to $102 billion for Apple. However, Apple had $163 billion in 2017, so this is just as much a story of Apple reducing its reserves as it is one of Google growing its own.
Since then, Apple has worked to reduce its liquidity in response to criticisms from investors that the company was hoarding cash. While there is some room for nuance, investors generally want to discourage companies from hoarding cash. Instead, they prefer that the money either be returned to investors in some way or invested in something that may produce a return later.
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