Apple shareholder meeting eyes huge pile of cash

War chest is not for looting

At Apple's annual shareholder meeting, boss Steve Jobs defended the decision to sit on cash reserves of $40 billion. Roughly amounting to a fifth of Apple's value and a strategically critical resource as the recession ends, Jobs alluded to the war chest being kept for something big. Investors would love to get their hands on the cash, but questions and suggestions were rebutted, with the explanation that buy backs and dividends would have no lasting impact on company's share value.

Apple also announced it would place 25 new retail stores across Chine by 2012 and pursue other opportunities abroad. Currently around 60% of Apples revenue is reaped from international markets, according to the most recent quarter's balance sheet.

Originally published at OneMobileRing.com