In corporate finance, the expression refers to the fact that only future free cash flows or dividends are relevant for valuation and not, for example, accounting earnings.
The phrase became more popular following the global stock market crash of 1987 by Pehr G. Gyllenhammar, then CEO of Swedish car group Volvo.
[2] Since 2000, the expression, "cash is king", has occasionally appeared in articles on the investing website Motley Fool,[3] and is part of radio host Dave Ramsey's hourly show introduction The phrase was frequently used by billionaire property developer Alex Spanos, whose 2002 book, Sharing the Wealth: My Story,[4] includes the phrase, used as a chapter title, and later adopted by another NFL team owner of Greek heritage, Jack Welch.
[5] Widely used during the global financial crisis of 2007–2008 and the Great Recession that followed, the phrase was also often used to describe companies which could avoid share issues or bankruptcy.
[citation needed] The phrase has been repurposed more recently to indicate opposition to the increasing trend of transactions being made using card rather than physical currency.