Headquarters #1. The Republic of Apple

I think it will be interesting to do a series on the headquarters of the biggest companies. Apple is #1 on the list, and they are building a spaceship in Cupertino, California at a cost of more than $5 billion.  The 4 story building will have 2.8 million square feet of space over 4 stories. The campus is 175 acres of prime land in the heart of Silicon Valley.  (The architect is the renowned Lord Norman Foster, who also designed the HSBC building in Hong Kong and futuristic buildings in Astana, Kazakhstan).

I call it the Republic of Apple, because they are the biggest tax avoider in the world.  They have declared themselves a "sovereign nation" for tax purposes and since nobody is challenging them on it they have succeeded.  They have over $100 billion in cash in offshore bank accounts, and they are very well connected in Washington.  They will probably be the world's first trillion dollar corporation.