Google told US regulators that it could spend as much as $30 billion of its offshore cash reserves on buying foreign companies or technology rights, it emerged Wednesday. In responses to questions from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, the Internet titan said that the bulk of the money it is amassing outside the country is likely to be spent on acquisitions. Google told regulators in a letter that "it is reasonable to forecast" that it needs from $20 billion to $30 billion of its foreign earnings to pay to companies or technology in the years ahead. "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 US based multinationals," Google said in the letter, which was dated December of 2013.



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