Medtronic has one of the largest stockpiles of cash held outside the United States among companies in the S&P 500, according to Bloomberg.
 
Of the $13.7 billion in cash and marketable securities held by Medtronic, approximately $6 billion, or nearly 44 percent of the total, is kept overseas. That’s enough to rank it 21st among hundreds in the key stock market index.
 
Medtronic faced criticism for shifting its headquarters from Minnesota to Ireland, a country with one of the lowest tax rates in the developed world. The move, known as a tax inversion, allowed the company to decrease its corporate tax rate to 12.5 percent throughout most of the world. America’s 35 percent rate applies to profits across the globe.
 
Other companies that have taken advantage of the tax loophole include technology giants Google and Facebook. Both were listed among the top S&P 500 companies with sizable holdings outside the U.S.
 
While Google’s parent company Alphabet ($55.7 billion) and Facebook ($7.5 billion) ranked high, both amounted to just a fraction of what other tech giants had, such as Apple ($239.6 billion) and Microsoft ($122.2 billion). The full list can be viewed here.
 
Other companies with a strong Minnesota presence made the list too. 3M, headquartered in Maplewood, also made the cut. The maker of industrial supplies is said to have $2 billion parked outside of the country.