Google tops most valuable brands list
The Brand Finance Global 500 report shows that Google is the world’s most valuable brand with a financial value of $109.4 (£86.58) billion.
Every year Brand Finance values the brands of thousands of the world’s biggest companies. Brands are first evaluated to determine their power / strength which are based on factors such as marketing investment, familiarity, loyalty, staff satisfaction and corporate reputation.
Brand strength is used to determine what proportion of a business’s revenue is contributed by the brand, which is “projected into perpetuity” to determine the brand’s overall value. The results of this analysis are ranked and the world’s 500 most valuable brands feature in the Brand Finance Global 500.
Here are the top 10 most valuable brands according to Brand Finance:
- Google – worth $109.4 (£86.58) billion
- Apple – worth $107.1 (£84.76) billion
- Amazon – worth $106.3 (£84.13) billion
- Direct TV – worth $87 (£68.85) billion
- Microsoft – worth $76.2 (£60.30) billion
- Samsung – worth $66.2 (£52.39) billion
- Verizon – worth $65.8 (£52.07) billion
- Walmart – worth $62.4 (£49.38) billion
- Facebook – worth $61.9 (£48.99) billion
- ICBC – worth $47.8 (£37.83) billion
Google’s brand value rose by 24% during 2016 (from US$88.2bn to US$109.4bn) and Apple’s declined from $145.9bn to $107.1bn, according to the latest Brand Finance Global 500 report. Google last occupied the position of the world’s most valuable brand in 2011.
David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, said: “Apple has struggled to maintain its technological advantage, with new iterations of the iPhone delivering diminishing returns, while the Chinese market is now crowded with local competitors. Apple has been living on borrowed time for several years by exploiting its accumulated brand equity. This underlines one of the many benefits of a strong brand, but Apple has finally taken it too far.”
