Last month Apple raised $17bn in a bond issue. Not because it needs the money; the company currently has reserves of $145bn, and the eye-watering margins on its products generate cash at a rate that perhaps only a central bank can emulate. Apple is raising money because its money is in the wrong places and it would face tax bills if it repatriated the money to the US. The transaction illustrates a paradox in the modern relationship between business and finance. Companies have never had so little need for capital nor so much engagement with capital markets.
不久前，蘋果(Apple)通過發行債券籌集了170億美元資金。蘋果發行債券，不是因為蘋果需要資金——該公司目前有1450億美元的現金儲備，其產品令人垂涎的利潤率創造現金的速度或許也只有央行能媲美。蘋果之所以籌資，是因為它的資金沒有放在合適的地方，而如果它要將資金調回美國，就需要納稅。這一融資案體現出商業和金融現代關系中的一個悖論。企業的資金需求從未像現在這樣低，與資本市場的關系也從未像現在這樣緊密。