Google Sells Debt to Add to Cash Stash

Google started the year off right with a 10% raise to employees, went zipping around the internet on a hiring spree to add bodies to their product development bull pen dedicated to improving Chrome and push into markets that are inhabited by Microsoft and the younger rivalFacebook.
Speculation is that Google is warming up for some expansion, however a good portion of Google's cash is tied up offshore and would incur stiff penalties if brought back into the United States.
By borrowing while the cost is low gives Google more flexibility, locking long term, and record low borrowing costs here in the States was good business sense. Google is filling its war chest at bargain prices as Microsoft and Facebook scurry to ward off a push further into their share markets. Facebook admitted they hired a PR firm to embellish stories about user privacy issues at Google and the Microsoft BPOS scandal with email being down has certainly helped Google to reach further into their shared target market.
Already sitting on a pile of cash, Google execs decided to tap into the bond market for more money by issuing $3 billion in debt at low interest rates, this is their first foray into the corporate market for more flexible cash and after paying the bills, Google will gain about $2.07 billion in return. The plans are to repay short-term debt, and the rest is to be stashed for use later..a new car? Or are they hoarding it for later?
The sale was divided into three pieces (tranches) $1 billion - interest rate of 1.25% and due in 2014, $1 billion at 2.125% and a 2016 mature date; finally $1 billion - interest rate of 3.625% that will be due in 2021. The rating for the debt from Standard and Poor is AA-, which is only 4 notches away from a triple-A rating. The ratings firm Egan-Jones stated in an article by John Letzing, MarketWatch said: "The company's credit quality is at the top end of the spectrum and is unlikely to shift significantly over the next couple of quarters." All of the pieces where launched with a narrower than in the guidelines preliminary pricing indicating there was demand from folks, some mentioned mom and pop businesses.