Where are the world’s corporate cash reserves?

The bulk of cash reserves at the world’s biggest companies are being held by an ever shrinking group whose spending patterns will be integral to any forthcoming boost to global business investment.

In 2008 the gross cash piles of the 963 non-financial companies in the S&P Global 1200 index amounted to $1.95tn, with groups holding $2bn or more in cash accounting for three-quarters of that.

By 2012, total reserves had risen to $3,16tn but the proportion held by companies with more than $2bn in cash had grown to 85 per cent.

The cash reserves of every non-financial company in the index for 2008, 2009 and 2012 are shown in the interactive graphic below. Choose a sector to compare its cash distribution to that of the overall list, and hover over the lines to see underlying data.

Source: Deloitte analysis of Bloomberg data. Graphic created using Tableau Software