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A comment on Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results. Parent comment

Re:Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results by ghaff on Thursday October 28, 2021 @05:47PM (#29032486)
"Cash" in balance sheet accounting-speak isn't limited to the dollar bills under Tim Cook's mattress. It refers to a large number of essentially "cash equivalent" things that can be converted to cash quickly and easily, albeit at essentially risk-free rates of return.

You maintain a cash reserve so that, if there is a (hopefully) short-term market correction, you're not stuck with having to sell assets in a dip to meet payroll, etc. Not really much different from people in that regard although obviously at a different scale.

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Re:Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results by qeternity on Thursday October 28, 2021 @07:00PM (#29033145)
Apple owns a hedge fund (the largest in the world) to do just this.

Braeburn Capital.

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Re:Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results by malshe on Thursday October 28, 2021 @07:10PM (#29033240)
> the dollar bills under Tim Cook's mattress That gave me a chuckle just imagining it :)
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Re:Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results by ufhghfggf on Thursday October 28, 2021 @10:04PM (#29034369)
Drug lord Pablo Escobar once burned $2 million cash to keep his family warm while they were hiding in a cave. It is also said he lost 1 billion cash per year due to rats eating the bills and/or dampness spoiling them.

References:

https://www.businessinsider.com/pablo-escobar-burned-2-milli...

http://www.hoaxorfact.com/celebrities/drug-lord-pablo-escoba...

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Re:Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results by dylan604 on Thursday October 28, 2021 @07:59PM (#29033622)
I'd imagine more like Scrooge McDuck in swim trunks diving into a large vault of gold coins.

Also, I doubt there's really a matress. He just sleeps on the money directly. Stacks of banded bills is probably pretty stiff vs just loose bills all piles up organically. Like each night before bed, he takes a few new stacks of cash reserves and makes it rain before diving in.

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Re:Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results by rllearneratwork on Thursday October 28, 2021 @07:00PM (#29033152)
"risk-free rates of return" - typically means "losing value via inflation"
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Re:Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results by snowwrestler on Thursday October 28, 2021 @07:42PM (#29033499)
No it means keeping up with inflation but not substantially beating it.
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Re:Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results by 1123581321 on Thursday October 28, 2021 @11:04PM (#29034731)
The other user is right. In a low interest rate environment it’s well possible for risk-free to underperform inflation. You can see this in the current short-term US treasury rates. This is one of the reasons so much money is piling into riskier assets.
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Re:Apple Reports Fourth Quarter Results by snowwrestler on Thursday October 28, 2021 @11:24PM (#29034835)
I assure you that major corporations understand this and pursue an investing strategy to at least keep up with inflation.
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