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While the world's most powerful government has
just $73.76 billion in its reserves, the world's
top technology company has a neat cash pile of
$75.87 billion Thursday.
The US Treasury Department warned July 28 that
it has now only this much operating budget as
Republicans and Democrats fight over raising the
nation's debt ceiling. With only that much reserve
at its disposal, the Obama White House has warned
the Republicans that the US government won't be
able to meet its obligations as of Aug 2.
Facing a government default, Obama can definitely
turn to Steve Jobs to give him a very brief breathing
space.
The failure by the Republicans and Democrats
to come to a compromise to raise the current $14.3
trillion debt ceiling by Aug 2 could lead to a
hike in interest rates. The already battered dollar
may also plunge further.
With its market capitalisation of $363.25 billion,
Apple is the second largest company on the planet
after American oil giant Exxon Mobil. The Cupertino-based
Apple started rising suddenly in 2007 when it
entered the smart phone market with the launch
of its first version of the iPhone.
Within three years, Apple went on to overhaul
BlackBerry company Research In Motion (RIM) which
invented the smart phone and dominated the market.
But its fortunes skyrocketed last year with the
launch of the iPad tablet which has sold in millions.
In fact, the iPhone and the iPad have made Apple
the czar of mobile computing technology as rivals
play up catch-up.
The stock of the company, which doesn't pay dividends,
has now touched $400.
After Apple, another non-financial company sitting
on a huge cash reserve is Microsoft whose own
pile is about $40 billion.
(IANS)
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