Amazon Is Becoming Big Tech’s King of Cash. Wall Street Wants a Piece. [Video]

Amazon‘s ballooning cash balance is drawing Wall Street’s attention.

The company is on pace to have $127.4 billion in cash and short-term investments by the end of this year, meaning it would triple the amount from 2018 and surpass $100 billion for the first time, according to consensus estimates compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.

That would give Amazon more money than its rivals Alphabet and Microsoft, each expected to have about $112.8 billion and $108.1 billion in cash by that time, respectively. The data indicated that even Apple, which puts some of its cash in long-term securities, would fall behind Amazon by next year.

By 2027, Amazon is forecast to have almost $400 billion in cash, far outpacing its Big Tech rivals.

This is an astounding transformation for a company that is famous for running on thin margins, reinvesting most of its profits, and holding relatively little cash compared with peers.

Wall Street is closely following this and questioning whether Amazon plans to return some of …