Cash Count: MSFT $20.7B, AAPL $24.5B

Microsoft ended the 3rd quarter with less cash on hand than Apple.
Where’s MSFT’s cash been going? Acquisitions, for one. Take away MSFT’s purchase of aQuantive (now Microsoft adCenter) in 2007 for $6 billion and they’d still be ahead.
MSFT also bought back $6 billion worth of stock from shareholders last quarter.
Steve Jobs, yesterday: “The economic downturn may present extraordinary opportunities to companies that have cash. Cash is king. We are very comfortable with cash in bank and it is not burning a hole in our pocket.”

Cash is great, but it hasn’t done much to protect Apple’s stock. How long until AAPL returns to near $200 — or can it, with all that magnificent hedge fund money gone?

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