Google: We’d repatriate offshore cash at 6.5% tax rate

With the Senate weighing a bipartisan effort to let companies repatriate offshore cash for five years at a 6.5% rate, Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) CFO Patrick Pichette states on the Q4 CC the passage of such a bill would change how his company spends. He adds ~60% of Google’s cash is offshore, and ~40% domestic. (CC live blogs: WSJ, BI)Google ended Q4 with $64.4B in cash/marketable securities, and $5.2B in debt. Speculation that dividends and/or buybacks might finally happen has grown a bit lately. Pichette says Google has nothing to announce regarding capital returns, but also insists Google does care about its stock price and reviews the matter with its board.Chief business officer Omid Kordestani states YouTube’s mobile revenue more than doubled Y/Y. YouTube, which is trying hard to grab brand ad dollars from TV advertisers, has already disclosed mobile now accounts for ~40% of its global viewing time.Other CC highlights: 1) Google saw $150M worth of forex hedging gains in Q4. If not for them, forex’s revenue impact would’ve been above $600M. 2) Pichette suggests Google would be hiring even more employees if it could find enough qualified personnel. 3) Over $900M of Google’s capex went into real estate purchases.GOOG now +1.4% AH. Q4 results, details.