Apple planning a $5 billion bond offering

Thanks to the fun and excitement of financial accounting, even companies with $178 billion in cash need to incur some debt every once in a while. That's exactly what Apple has in store for the near future, filing a bond sale prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the amount of $5 billion.

That amount isn't actually listed in the prospectus; the Associated Press reported the amount earlier today. What will Apple do with that little pile of debt? Probably fund the capital reinvestment program that has been buying back shares of Apple stock and paying quarterly dividends to shareholders.

Goldman, Sachs & Co. and Deutsche Bank Securities will handle the bond sale, which is coming at a time when the U.S. bond market is suffering and 30-year bonds are at a record low. Apple has issued other bond offerings in the past, including a $17 billion six-part offering in 2013. At the time, that offering was the largest ever for a US corporation. Another $12 billion bond sale was offered in 2014, and the company made a Euro bond offering late in 2014.