In its annual rankings of the 500 most valuable brands, Brand Finance named Amazon as number one, moving up from third place in last year’s list and bumping out Google, which took third place this time. Apple remained number two.
Amazon’s brand value came in at $150.8 billion, up 42 percent from 2017. Apple’s brand value rose to $146.3 billion from $107 billion in the prior year while Google jumped to $120.9 billion this year from $109.5 billion.
“Brand Finance calculates brand value using the royalty relief methodology, which determines the value a company would be willing to pay to license its brand as if it did not own it,” researchers at the firm said. “This approach involves estimating the future revenue attributable to a brand and calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for the use of the brand.”
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There are seven metrics that make up the valuation methodology. The total value of the top 10 most valuable ones rose 20 percent this year, to $949.1 billion from $792.4 billion. Coming in fourth was Samsung at $92.3 billion and then Facebook in fifth with $89.6 billion. AT&T was number six with $82.4 billion, followed by Microsoft at $81.1 billion. Verizon was number eight with $62.8 billion and was followed by Walmart at $61.4 billion. Chinese bank ICBC was 10th with a brand value of $59.2 billion. Verizon and Walmart were the only two brands on the list that showed year-over-year declines in values.
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Researchers at the firm noted that Samsung remained Asia’s most valuable brand. “The company’s sales recorded a 19.3 percent increase in [the third quarter of 2017] with a push of the newly designed Galaxy S8, S8 Plus, and Note 8 smartphones,” the authors of the report said. “As the company strives to be at the forefront of technology, and its brand philosophy ‘Do What You Can’t’ continues to resonate with consumers, Samsung is on the right track to grow in both brand value and brand strength in the future.”
Regarding fashion and retail brands that made the list, Nike came in at number 40 with a valuation of $28 billion. Last year, the company was number 27. H&M had a brand value of $19 billion, which placed it at number 72 on the list versus 63rd last year. Fast fashion competitor Zara came in at number 92 with a brand value of $17.4 billion. Last year, the retailer was 90th.
The Top 10 Global Brands by Valuation
| Ranking | Brand | Brand Value (2018/2017) in $U.S. millions | |||
| 2018 | 2017 | 2018 | 2017 | ||
| 1 | 3 | Amazon | $150,811 | $106,396 | |
| 2 | 2 | Apple | $146,311 | $107,141 | |
| 3 | 1 | $120,911 | $109,470 | ||
| 4 | 6 | Samsung | $92,289 | $66,218 | |
| 5 | 9 | $89,684 | $61,998 | ||
| 6 | 4 | AT&T | $82,422 | $87,016 | |
| 7 | 5 | Microsoft | $81,163 | $76,265 | |
| 8 | 7 | Verizon | $62,826 | $65,875 | |
| 9 | 8 | Walmart | $61,480 | $62,211 | |
| 10 | 10 | ICBC | $59,189 | $47,832 | |
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