Apple Now Has More Cash Than US Government, With $76 Billion In Reserve

Amidst the political debates over the federal budget and the debt ceiling crisis, the U.S. government revealed that it now has $73 billion remaining as the "financial headroom" before hitting an arbitrary debt ceiling. Interestingly, this figure, which represents all that the government has left to spend is less than the mountain of cash that Apple's sitting on as reserve.

Apple has been rapidly building up a gigantic cash reserve over the years. In 2005 it reported $9 billion in cash on hand, which has since skyrocketed to $60 billion in 2010. At that time, their pile of cash was already more than any other non-financial company in the US. And as of June 25, 2011, the company is now sitting on nearly $76 billion in case reserve.

With that kind of money, it's said that Apple could buy Facebook and Goldman Sachs and still possibly have some cash left. Or, it could purchase most of the mobile phone industry including HTC, Nokia, RIM, and Motorola and still have cash left.

[via Financial Post]