CASH-RICH APPLE

The size of the apple's hoard is $145 billion

The stock market value of apple is $415 billion

with $145 billion cash hoard, Apple could acquire facebook,hp,yahoo. put another way, it could buy every office building and retail price in newyork, according to city estimates.

but despite of its extraordinary flush balance sheet, the technology behemoth borrowed money on tuesday for the first time in nearly two decades. in a record-size bond deal, the company raised $17 billion, paying interest rates that hovered near the low cost debt of the us treasury.
its return to the debt market raises a riddle: why would a company with so much cash even bother to issue debt?
the answer has a lot to do with the frenzied state of the bond markets.companies are issuing hundreds of billion dollars in debt to  exploit historically low interest rates.They are also feeding strong investor demand for high quality corporate bonds as an alternative to money market funds and treasury bills, which are paying virtually nothing.
Apple's manoeuvre, how- ever, also reflects the unusual challenges of a fabulously successful company with a sinking stock price. apple is plagued by concerns that its growth may be slowing, and its shares have plummeted from a high last fall of more than $700 to under$400 last month.
In an effort to assuage a growing chorus of frustrated investors, the company is issuing bonds to help finance the $100 billion payout to the shareholders.
Apple had said that it has planned to pay out by the end of 2015 and buy back its stock. taking on debt can actually magnify the returns to the shareholders and improve stock performance.it also reduces the over all cost of capital of the business.Apple is the largest dividend payer of $11,475 billion.