Apple Borrows Billions for Next to Nothing

Apple has started borrowing money to underwrite the three-year $60 billion share buy-back program it promised stockholders last week. The company is also going to pay out $55 billion in dividends through 2015. It’s issued floating-rate notes maturing in 2016 and 2018 and fixed-rate securities due in 2016, 2018, 2023 and 2043, it said in a regulatory filing, starting with a bond offering worth $17 billion on Tuesday, reportedly the largest non-bank bond offering ever . It was swamped with orders reportedly worth $50 billion.

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