Why Microsoft probably couldn’t care less that the EU just fined it $732 million

Here’s why Microsoft need not care about the €561 million ($732 million) fine: According to its latest 10-Q statement, the company has $51 billion in overseas cash burning a hole in its pocket.

That money represents profits earned overseas, much of it in Europe, that Microsoft refuses to bring home to the US because to do so would be give up 35% of it in corporate taxes. Indeed, the not-so-secret history of Microsoft’s acquisition of Luxembourg-based Skype is that the $8.5 billion Microsoft paid for Skype was just a few (giant) bills off the company’s wad of overseas cash. In 2011, Microsoft had just $42 billion in overseas cash holdings, or $9 billion -- an entire Skype’s worth -- less than it does now. Granted, Microsoft is going to miss the half billion dollars in US cash equivalent (if it were repatriated and US taxes paid) that the EU will be extracting from the company, but given that Microsoft can’t figure out what else to do with its cash, that may simply be the cost of maintaining market share for its desktop browser.