Microsoft's online business, for example, struggles, but cash helps to assuage the fears. Same with Yahoo, unimpressive performance and growth overall, sweet cash from Alibaba transaction kept investors excited and allowed them to grow via acquisitions.
Apple, for one, negotiates better manufacturing deals due to the wide knowledge of them having a fat checking account http://www.quora.com/Apple-Inc-2/What-would-be-a-good-use-of... A lot of dealings in the offline world (datacenter leases, procuring manufacturing capacity, loans of credit, bond issuance, contracting suppliers) is easier if you have a fat account to show.