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The most valuable brands in the world revealed

Apple CEO Tim Cook waves to customers before they enter Apple's flagship 5th Avenue store to purchase the new iPhone 11 on 20 September in New York City. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty
Apple is ranked the most valuable brand in the world. Above, CEO Tim Cook waves to customers before they enter Apple's flagship 5th Avenue store to purchase the new iPhone 11 on 20 September in New York City. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty

American tech giants reign supreme for the second year running in a ranking of the world’s most valuable brands.

Apple (AAPL), Google (GOOG) and Amazon (AMZN) took the top three spots in Interbrand’s 2019 Best Global Brands report, published on Thursday. It marks the seventh consecutive year Apple and Google took the top positions.

Apple’s brand was valued at $234,241m, Google’s at $167,713m, and Amazon’s $125,263m. Apple’s brand value grew by 9% on last year, while Google’s grew by 8%.

However, Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook (FB) slipped out of the top 10 after a difficult year for the company marred by privacy scandals and a multibillion dollar fine from US regulators. Facebook was ranked ninth most valued brand in the world in 2018 but slipped to fourteenth in 2019. Facebook’s brand value has fallen by 11.8% since last year, Interbrand estimate.

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Facebook first entered the ranking at number 69 in 2012. At its peak in 2017, Facebook was ranked eighth with a brand value of $48,188m.

Interbrand bases its valuations on: the financial performance of the branded products or services; the role the brand plays in purchase decisions; and the brand’s competitive strength and ability to create loyalty. Brand value is therefore different to a company’s market value, although this is taken into account.

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The rise in brand values for top performers was driven in part by surging share prices. Amazon’s stock has jumped by 424% in the last five years, and Apple and Google’s share price has risen over 100% in the same period.

Microsoft (MSFT) ($108,847m), Coca-Cola (KO) ($63,365m), Samsung ($61,098m), Toyota ($56,246m), Mercedes-Benz ($50,832m), McDonald’s ($45,362m) and Disney (DIS) ($44,352) filled out the top 10.

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Top 10 most valuable brands in the world

  1. Apple ($234,241m)

  2. Google ($167,713m)

  3. Amazon ($125,263m)

  4. Microsoft ($108,847m)

  5. Coca-Cola ($63,365m)

  6. Samsung ($61,098m)

  7. Toyota ($56,246m)

  8. Mercedes-Benz ($50,832m)

  9. McDonald’s ($45,362m)

  10. Disney ($44,352)

Uber made the Best Global Brands rankings for the first time this year at number 87, with a value of $5,714m. LinkedIn also entered the list at number 98. The professional social networking site’s brand was valued at $4,836m.

The report revealed the top growing sector for brands in 2019 was luxury. This sector had the highest average brand value change against last year’s figures, rising from $105,783 to $117,785 – a growth rate of 11%.

Mastercard was the leading growth brand, shifting eight places to number 62 as a result of a quarter increase in brand value to $9,430m.

A comparison of the top 10 brands in the world, as ranked by brand Value, today and in 2000.
A comparison of the top 10 brands in the world, as ranked by brand Value, today and in 2000. Source: Interbrands/Best Global Brands 2019

Other top performers included Gucci, which ranked 33rd and saw its brand value increase by 23% to $15,949m, and Adobe, which saw a 20% jump in brand value to $12,937m and came in at 39. Of the 100 brands featured, 26 saw double digit percentage growth.

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Dell returned to the top 100 global brands at number 63, after a six-year absence. It was valued at $9,086m.

The combined total brand value of the top 100 was $2,130,929m – an increase of 5.7% from 2018.