Apple’s $250 billion in repatriated cash: Netflix, Disney, Tesla, and other options

Apple has been actively preparing to repatriate over $200 billion in overseas cash since 2016. With the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 cutting the repatriation tax rate to 15.5 percent, Apple can now bring all of its foreign profits back to the U.S. at a nearly 20 percent discount. So, how will it spend all that cash?

Since Apple will have around $250 billion more in its U.S. coffers, many people expect the company to splurge, despite its history of making small purchases. While it would be easy to write off the possibility of a single huge acquisition, based solely on Apple’s history, Tim Cook said last year that “[t]here’s not a size that we would not do, based on just the size of it. It’s more of the strategic value of it.” That comment was enough to fuel speculation about anything and everything.