Tim Cook's $181 billion headache

Booming iPhone sales overseas are adding to Apple's cash pile, pushing the company to embrace offshore affiliates to preserve and invest the money. Cook, who was called before U.S. Congress in 2013 to defend Apple against allegations of dodging taxes, is facing questions on what Apple will do with its cash pile and fielding calls from investors, such as billionaire activist Carl Icahn, to return shareholder capital, Bloomberg reports. "They don't really have that much on-shore cash," said Tim Arcuri, an analyst at Cowen & Co. "They're still sort of hamstrung on what they can do, barring the ability to repatriate a bunch of off-shore cash." Cook has been vocal about his desire for U.S. lawmakers to amend the country's tax laws so that companies can repatriate more cash. Apple's overseas cash has climbed 70 percent since Cook spoke to Congress, and now makes up 89 percent of Apple's $202.8 billion in cash and investments at the end of June, the company said Tuesday, up from 72 percent of $146.6 billion in cash two years ago. Driving that is Apple's booming global revenue. Sales in greater China, for example, more than doubled to $13.2 billion in the latest quarter from a year earlier. At the same time, Apple's U.S. federal lobbying spending has been climbing, and reached a record $4.1 million last year as it advocated on a wide range of issues. The company's lobbying climbed 46 percent in the second quarter from a year earlier. The iPhone maker added three lobbyists on the issues of taxes in the past year, and is addressing concerns such as corporate and international "tax reform," according to records filed with the U.S. Senate this week.

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