We've followed the cash holdings of the largest US companies for some time now. Back in 2011 we claimed these holdings exacerbated the Great Recession, and then analyzed those balances. We updated this analysis in 2012 and 2013.
It's time once again to see who leads big companies in hoarding cash. This update comes after the Federal Reserve provided its economy-wide estimate of corporate cash. It reports that as of the end of 2013, US non-financial businesses held $2.1 trillion of cash and other liquid assets, up from $1.7 trillion when we first looked in 2011.
The ten companies with the largest cash and liquid asset balances account for $718 billion, or about one-third of the US total. If we adjust these balances for debt, these balances become $400 billion, or almost 20% of the US total.
We provide an updated list and analysis in a current blog post.
