14 DAY TRIAL // Google scrambled, stumbled, grabbed Apple’s ankle and yanked it off the top spot of the world’s most valuable brands list. This year’s BrandZ study signals that Apple dropped one spot from last year and left enough space for Google to wiggle its way at the top.
The Millward Brown study puts Google’s brand value at $158.84 billion (€115.9 billion), while Apple’s came in at only $147.88 billion (€107.9 billion).
“Google has been extremely innovative this year with Google Glass, investments in artificial intelligence and a range of partnerships,” said Benoit Tranzer, chief of Millward Brown France.
The reference, of course, is to the controversial wearable tech from Google, which is scheduled to be released to the public later this year in its final form, as well as the company’s experiments with robotics, balloon-powered wireless Internet, driverless cars and more.
This year’s annual edition of the BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands indicates that the combined brand value of the world’s most important brands has climbed 12 percent to $2.9 trillion (€2.12 trillion).
Apple had dominated the top position for three years in a row, but it looks like this wasn’t its year, as its brand value dropped 20 percent from last year.
IBM came in third, just like it did last year, with a brand value of over 107.5 billion (€78.44 billion). Microsoft follows on the fourth place, with a value of 90.2 billion (€65.8 billion), nearly 30 percent over last year’s results.
McDonalds, Coca Cola and Visa follow on the next three spots, while AT&T comes up on the eighth spot, with a brand value of $79.2 billion (€57.8 billion). Marlboro takes up the ninth spot, with Amazon wrapping up the top ten. Amazon’s brand value climbed 41 percent up to $64.2 billion (€46.85 billion).
Other tech companies show up on the chart as well. China’s Tencent ranked at number 14, with a brand value that climbed 97 percent compared to last year, up to $53.6 billion (€39.11 billion). Facebook is on the 21st place, ten spots higher than last year. Its brand value has risen by 68 percent to $35.7 billion (€26.05 billion).
Chinese search ending Baidu can be found at number 25, with a brand value that nears $30 billion (€27.9 billion). Oracle ranks at number 45 ($20.9 billion / €15.25 billion), eBay ended up on the 61st place with a brand value of $15.5 billion, while Yahoo can be found on the 69th place, its brand being valued at $14.1 billion (€10.3 billion).
Twitter ended up on the 71st place, with its brand valued at $13.8 billion (€10.07 billion). This is the first time Twitter has been present in the BrandZ chart. Cisco follows on the 72nd place, with $13.7 billion (€10 billion). Two new entries are LinkedIn, on the 78th place, and PayPal on 97.