[moomin]

Truth is, this kind of money is already being "reinvested" by the treasury function. What isn't clear is what on Earth Apple could do that would cost that much money and generate Apple-like returns.

The obvious solution to this is to cut out the middle-man and just return a good chunk of the cash to shareholders. But that never happens because reasons.

[Jtsummers]

This cash reserve is a large reason Apple started paying dividends several years back. A large portion of this is also overseas and they want to bring it back to the US without the present tax obligations.