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Perhaps the most important thing to remember from today - the CFO said that Apple, for the first time, will take on debt.

In a nutshell, a company with around $100bn in cash (and equivalents) held offshore[1] would rather raise debt and pay interest on that debt, than repatriate funds to the US and pay corporate income tax.

[1] http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/im...

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That's because the cost of borrowing money is a lot cheaper than the tax hit that the company will incur if they repatriated cash back to the US. In most cases the tax rate is as high as 35%[1]. Microsoft, for example, reported that it would owe $19.4 billion if it repatriated its $60.8 billion in offshore holdings[2]. using the same numbers, Apple will have to pay $35 billion in taxes if they repatriated $100 billion in offshore profits earned (and already taxed) in foreign countries.

[1]http://appleinsider.com/articles/11/02/16/apple_lobbies_for_...

[2]http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-03-08/offshore-cash-hoard...

Companies do this all the time.

"Google Borrowing $3 Billion In First Ever Bond Offer"

http://www.businessinsider.com/google-bond-offering-2011-5

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