what is a war chest 
 war chest is a colloquial term for the reserves of cash set aside or built up by a company to take advantage of an unexpected opportunity while a war chest is typically used for acquisitions of other companies or businesses it can also be used as a buffer against adverse events during uncertain times a war chest is often invested in short term investments such as treasury bills and bank deposits which can be accessed on demand understanding war chestsa war chest that has swelled up too much can sometimes be viewed as an inefficient way of deploying capital while investors may be willing to give a company with a huge cash hoard the benefit of the doubt for some time if the cash balance continues to grow well beyond the company s normal operating requirements its investors may clamor for a share of it 1if the company is unable to deploy its war chest efficiently it may consider distributing part of its cash holdings to its shareholders such return of capital to shareholders is usually achieved either through a special dividend distribution an increase in the regular dividend a share buyback or a combination of these measures special considerationscompanies may rely on debt instead of cash however to fund acquisitions or pay unexpected expenses this allows companies to carry less cash especially if they have credit available on the flip side companies often choose to redistribute their war chest to shareholders via special dividends or buybacks 2types of war chestcash and liquid cash equivalents are a key part of a war chest more recently companies have started to include more intangible assets as part of a bigger war chest these intangibles may include social capital political capital and human capital all can prove effective when launching a corporate raid or defending against one the war chest of corporate entities will look different for various countries industries and business models in a sense no two are alike the war room is another business term businesses often assemble or refer to a war room which is where core executives gather to plot and development high stakes strategies modern war rooms will include the latest in audio video and communications technologies examples of war chestswar chests of cash are used to fund purchases and investments looking at how these change over time can give a picture of a company s near term prospects analysts and the media like to focus on the war chest of apple aapl which has historically had a large cash hoard apple had 27 5 billion in cash on hand as of june 25 2022 down from 35 billion a year earlier 3 the company after getting pushback from shareholders had started buying back shares and paying a dividend to put some of its cash to use 4another example of a closely watched war chest is warren buffett s berkshire hathaway brk b the company had 26 5 billion in cash as of june 30 2022 down from more than 85 billion at the end of 2021 5 analysts watch buffett s cash position and speculate on companies that it might purchase and the significant dip in these six months reflects berkshire s buying spree in stocks as markets dipped including a large stake in occidental petroleum oxy 6