2 reasons ... "Economists ... showed in a 2009 article that the increase in the cash-to-assets ratio of firms was related tightly to precautionary motives." "

2 reasons ... "Economists ... showed in a 2009 article that the increase in the cash-to-assets ratio of firms was related tightly to precautionary motives." "[a] second motive is present for multinational firms and is due to repatriation taxes. ... firms may have incentives to keep foreign earnings abroad. As a consequence, in times of limited foreign investment opportunities and high profitability, these funds are likely to be held abroad in the form of cash." from https://www.stlouisfed.org/Publications/Regional-Economist/January-2013/Why-Are-Corporations-Holding-So-Much-Cash https://www.stlouisfed.org/Publications/Regional-Economist/J... : Why Are Corporations Holding So Much Cash? If I were to venture a third reason, it would be that with rising interest rates looming, the cost of borrowing will go up; which might be a subset of the 1st ("precautionary") explanation above.