A handful of the largest US technology companies have increased their cash mountains by 40 per cent over the past year, taking their reserves to nearly a quarter of a trillion dollars, according to figures released in recent days.
Conservative balance sheet management in the face of economic uncertainty and the failure of an anticipated wave of mergers and acquisitions to materialise have resulted in a massive build-up of liquidity among a small group of leading companies.
The 10 largest tech companies added more than $65bn to their reserves since the depths of the slump a year ago, according to a Financial Times analysis. That has come in spite of declining revenues over that period at companies such as Microsoft, Cisco Systems and IBM.