Apple leads tech cash hoarders

APPLE is leading an elite group of technology companies that have collectively amassed a record £170 billion in reserves as they hedge against the threat of a double dip recession, according to a new report.

The American creator of the iPhone and iPad - which for a few hours last week was the world's most valuable company - is among eight technology giants that have been squirreling away cash over the past few years.

But the move has come at a cost for the IT jobs market, with recruitment agencies reporting that more than 500,000 jobs have been shed worldwide by the technology sector since the full impact of the recession took effect.

Business Insider, a Silicon Valley-based website, describes the leading IT companies as "hoarders", accumulating surplus funds as a cushion against a worsening economic environment.

They hope the move will make them recession proof, "but their P/E (price earnings] ratios languish in the low double-digits - just above the range that steel mills trade at before they're going out of business," the website claims.

Apple, founded by Steve Jobs, has 46.8bn of cash in reserve followed by arch rival Microsoft on 32.4bn.

The difference between the two is that while Microsoft has shed several thousand jobs, Apple took on 1,200 people last year and is still recruiting.

IT networking firm Cisco is third on the list with 26.7bn, followed by Google, which has put away 21.5bn. Cisco is laying off 6,500 this year, while the internet search engine giant has restricted redundancies to hundreds during the past three years and is now taking on staff once again.

The others include Oracle, which has 17.7bn of cash, Dell which has 8.8bn and Hewlett-Packard, whose cash pile stands at 7.8bn. IBM has been following the same trend, putting away 7.2bn.

Business Insider's Matt Rosoff said: "If the economy goes back into recession having a lot of cash gives these companies a backstop if their sales collapse."