Google has a large surplus of cash money, through which the company would have to be considered as an investments company, and therefore has to deal with strict rules of the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC). Problem is that the liquid assets of the company are more than 40% part of all Google’s assets. The search-engine giant would have an amount of 9.8 billion dollar in cash and with this amount it is comparable with a medium-sized investments company.
Last month Google has asked the SEC for an exemption because it is very difficult for a none-investments company to live by the rules of the SEC. The SEC can grant that exemption if the company can demonstrate that its core business doesn’t consists of making investments and of stock market trading. Only 3 of the 9700 employees of Google are responsible for its cash management. The company has contracted investments specialists from outside the company. Normally the 40% rule doesn’t cause any problems because most companies have possession of factories and real estate, but this isn’t the case with internet companies.
