Corporate Cash: Big Stockpiles for Tough Times

At a time when the economy is experiencing its steepest drop-off since the depths of the 1982 recession, it's perhaps not surprising that cash is the new black at big corporations—and the bigger the pile, the better. With that in mind, sought out 21 U.S. outfits that most aggressively stockpiled cash in the most recent quarter. Collectively, this group of companies added $83.7 billion to their balance sheets. By contrast, they reduced their cash by a total of $808 million during the same quarter of 2007.

So what will these companies do with all of their cash? Some want to use the money to play extreme defense: General Electric (GE) added $33.6 billion to its balance sheet to amass a $50 billion hoard to make the company "more safe and secure in this environment," according to spokesman Russell Wilkerson.