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They certainly had the money, they just didn't bid enough money.
by ericflo 15y ago
They certainly had the money, they just didn't bid enough money.
- jrockway 15y agoWas that the problem? My understanding was that they could see the other bids, but chose not to bid higher.
- ericflo 15y agoGoogle has 36 billion dollars of cash on hand, so they had the money, they apparently weren't willing to bid more than pi billion though.
- megablast 15y agoA minor point, but they certainly do not have $36B cash on hand, they have it in assets that can be liquidated reasonably quickly, but companies do not keep $36B lying around, or in the bank. It is stashed in short term investments.
- ddemchuk 15y ago"Cash – As of December 31, 2010, cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities were $35.0 billion." http://investor.google.com/earnings/2010/Q4_google_earnings.html http://investor.google.com/earnings/2010/Q4_google_earnings....
- nikcub 15y agowhat investors refer to as 'cash on hand' doesn't literally mean a room full of bills or a bank account. a 'cash asset' is anything that can be theoretically converted back into cash quickly and with little trouble (tbills, term deposits, bank accounts, any AAA+ funds, etc.) for eg. if the Greek government owed me $1B, I wouldn't call that cash on hand, but if the US government owed me $1B, it is
- chalst 15y agoNot just any short-term investments: I think they have to be with investment banks, or invested in certain highly liquid, highly rated vehicles such as money market accounts, treasury bills, or short-term AAA-rated government debt.
- joshwa 15y agoAccording to the article, they bid up through $4 billion but eventually "tapped out".
- ohashi 15y agoIf I read correctly, they actually bid up to 4 billion before dropping out.