CORNELL UNIVERSITY MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICEFeb. 2, 2016 Tech earnings: Cornell expert on Yahoo, Alphabet, Apple

Newswise — It is time for quarterly earnings for three of the most profitable tech companies in the world – Yahoo, Alphabet and Apple. While Alphabet has already topped Apple as the world’s most valuable company, Yahoo faces struggles with its core business and management. Aija Leiponen, associate professor at Cornell University’s Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management comments on each companies’ performance.

Bio: www.dyson.cornell.edu/people/aija-leiponen

Leiponen says:

“It does appear that although the core business of Yahoo has significant value, the toxic work environment continues to detract – and subtract – from it substantially. The news about the competitive employee review process are quite disheartening, this is not a way to encourage employees to cooperate, innovate, and go the extra mile to reach the shared goals during an extremely stressful and challenging turnaround. Arbitrary performance reviews are just about the worst thing for employee satisfaction and enthusiasm.

“I’m only surprised Google hasn’t become the most valuable company sooner. It has executed a brilliant strategy to become an essential part of the fundamental infrastructure of the information society. Its ongoing ‘other bets’ – such as cars, homes, and energy - seek to extend that strategy. Wherever bits are flowing, Alphabet is there, experimenting and innovating foundational services. The new corporate structure allows them to cover more ground, as each of the ventures can create new markets semi-independently. So far they have maintained sufficient coherence such that all the units and ventures share the focus on critical information infrastructure.

“In comparison, Apple is just a ‘dumb’ gadget company, subject to the whims of popularity and coolness and bound to fall out of fashion eventually. No company has been able to design the coolest device for extended periods of time, and although Apple has had exceptional success with the iPhone, it will run out of luck at some point.”

Rebecca ValliO: 607-255-7701M: 607-793-1025[email protected]

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