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Tech world’s ‘fearsome five’ top most valuable brands list

Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook take top five spots in BrandZ’s ranking

2 HOURS AGO by: Tim Bradshaw in San Francisco
Silicon Valley groups occupy the top five spots among the world’s most valuable companies. Tech stocks also account for almost all of the S&P 500’s gains so far this year. Now, a new ranking of the world’s most valuable brands is the latest listing to be dominated by Google, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook.

The US tech groups occupy the first five positions in BrandZ’s latest list of the top 100 brands, while China’s Tencent — parent of the hugely popular Weixin, or WeChat, app — entered the top 10 for the first time.

The annual BrandZ ranking, which is compiled by WPP consultancy Kantar Millward Brown, is based on a combination of millions of consumer interviews and each company’s financial performance. With a combined brand value of $892bn, the group BrandZ dubs tech’s “fearsome five” account for a quarter of the total value of the top 100 companies.

“Dubbed the ‘the frightful five’ by some, the tech giants that head the rankings are more like the ‘fearsome five’ to their competitors, given their huge brand power and a seemingly unassailable market position,” said David Roth, chief executive of Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia at The Store, WPP’s retail marketing practice.

Amazon, whose share price topped $1,000 for the first time last week, saw the single biggest jump in brand value among the 100 companies listed. The ecommerce group’s rating was up 41 per cent to $139bn as its Alexa-powered “smart speaker” Echo provided a halo effect for its online store.

Other tech-related newcomers to the top 100 group include YouTube, Salesforce, Netflix and Snapchat. Tencent, whose 27 per cent increase in brand value saw it jump from number 11 to eight in the rankings, also recently joined the world’s top 10 companies by market capitalisation, just behind energy group ExxonMobil, with its shares rising more than 40 per cent this year. The Weixin app has more than 800m monthly active users, while the Tencent empire also encompasses video games, music and mobile payments.

Google, part of the Alphabet group, and Apple have been vying for the top spot in the list for several years. The search company led the field between 2007 and 2010, then again for the last two years while Apple held the top spot from 2011 to 2013, and in 2015.

Reflecting the broader rally in Silicon Valley companies’ share prices in recent months, BrandZ’s tech category grew by 13 per cent in the last year, while retail gained 14 per cent, led by ecommerce groups such as Amazon and Alibaba.

The single fastest riser this year is sportswear group Adidas, up 58 per cent to a brand value of $8.3bn, driven by collaborations with celebrities such as singer Kanye West and former football player David Beckham, which have helped it gain market share against longstanding rival Nike.