10 OZY Highlights + How Much Facebook Makes Off Your Data

Can the world’s top companies stay on top? Probably not for long.

Take a look at America’s most valuable companies from 100 years ago, and you’ll hardly recognize most of them. Meatpacker Armour & Co. ceased operations in 1983. Agricultural machinery-maker International Harvester broke up in 1985. Go back 50 years, and the list looks more familiar: IBM has fallen from the perch it once held in the late 1960s but remains a powerhouse. Sears & Roebuck is in bankruptcy, and Eastman Kodak is no longer touting Kodak moments.

And now? Most of the 10 most valuable public companies in the world today didn’t exist in 1969 — Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook, Tencent and Alibaba all have more recent birthdays.

So what does this mean for the stock market of 2069? It’s a version of the old law school adage: Look to your left, look to your right. At least one of you won’t be here

Because there’s a growing push against short-termism in the corporate world.

In early January, Apple CEO Tim Cook stunned markets when he announced the company would revise downward its quarterly revenue forecast, made just 60 days earlier. Apple’s share price tumbled, bringing the rest of the market temporarily down with it. But that forecast Apple missed, known on Wall Street as quarterly “guidance,” is falling out of favor among many corporations, with some of the biggest names in business pushing for an end to one of the most common ways investors value companies.

For years, supporters of such frequent guidance have argued that predictions can help prepare investors for changes in market conditions or company plans that might affect stock prices. But an increasing number of companies are now turning away from quarterly projections amid growing concerns that a short-term fixation can blind them from pursuing more long-term objectives — a potential weak point for America’s giants as they seek to remain on top of the corporate heap in the coming decades.

The social network and Google make money from your information. These startups think it’s time you got a cut.

The browser opens with advertisements targeting users based on their internet habits. But unlike most digital platforms, this one pays users 70 percent of what it earns when they interact with an advertisement. Sure, it’s lower than the 100 percent of returns the Facebooks and Googles of the tech world enjoy. But for Brave, the firm behind this browser, it’s a model for how to responsibly use personal information in an era in which consumers are growing increasingly conscious about the privacy — and value — of their data.

For many years, platforms such as Facebook and Google have tracked user data — from browsing history to email addresses — and deployed that to offer companies targeted advertisements. In 2017, Facebook earned $20.21 per user this way, according to filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission — its 1.94 billion monthly active users at the time would have brought in $39 billion in revenue. But none of that money was shared with users. Then there are the violations of data privacy: In April, Facebook confirmed that it’s likely to incur $3 billion to $5 billion in fines from the Federal Trade Commission, potentially for sharing user data without explicit consent.