A recent document filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shows that Google has a mountain of funds it plans to use for potential international acquisitions. The SEC recently published a Form 10-K document that Google filed back in January of last year that discusses the company's needs to expand internationally, and just how much money it plans to use in order to do so.
"We continue to expect substantial use of our offshore earnings for acquisitions as our global business has expanded into other product offerings like mobile devices where our competitors and business partners are no longer primarily U.S. based multinationals, thereby creating the potential for more foreign acquisitions as part of our overall growth strategy," the company said in its 10-K.
Google said it has $20 to $30 billion in foreign earnings that it plans to use to acquire international firms. It pointed to expenses required to purchase firms like Motorola Mobility, which is now in the process of being sold off to Lenovo, for allocating those funds. Also of note is a line that discusses Google's interest in acquiring one firm that was valued between $4 billion and $5 billion. Google says that deal eventually fell through, but doesn't name the company it was interested in.
One big reason why Google might be holding so much cash overseas is to avoid taxes that it would incur if it brought that money back into the U.S., an obstacle that other global corporations, such as Apple, also face. Google frequently snaps up smaller firms, however, and made 20 deals by December 2013 valued at $1.4 billion in total. Most recently, Google acquired a company called Divide in a clear bid to target the enterprise. What company will be next?
