Another Ranking
According to data published by Forbes on May 13 (local time), Apple ranked first in the top 100 companies’ brand value. Apple’s brand value reached US$145.3 billion (159.5103 trillion won), which increased as much as 17 percent from 2014, said Forbes.
Apple’s competitor Samsung Electronics ranked seventh with the brand value of US$37.9 billion (41.6066 trillion won). Forbes said that Samsung fell behind Apple, even though the company spent as much as US$4 billion (4.3912 trillion won) for ads last year to win the hearts of consumers. Apple spent only US$1.2 billion (1.31 trillion won), a third of Samsung’s.
Forbes said that Apple sold 70.48 million units of smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2014, and exceeded the sales of Samsung for the first time since 2011. Accordingly, Apple posted US$18 billion (19.7604 trillion won) in net profits in the fourth quarter last year, a 33 percent increase from a year earlier.
Microsoft recorded the second highest brand value in the world. Its value increased 10 percent to US$69.3 billion (76.0775 trillion won) compared with the previous year. Google came in third with US$65.6 billion (71.59 trillion won), Coca Cola in fourth with US$56 billion (61.11 trillion won), and IBM in fifth with US$49.8 billion (54.35 trillion won).
McDonald’s took the sixth spot with US$39.5 billion (43.11 trillion won). Samsung, which ranked seventh, was followed by Yota with US$37.8 billion (41.25 trillion won), General Electric with US$37.5 billion (40.92 trillion won), and Facebook with US$36.5 billion (39.83 trillion won), making the top 10.
Among Korea companies, Hyundai Motor ranked 64th in brand value with US$8.4 billion (9.17 trillion won), 7 percent growth from the previous year. Kia Motors ranked 97th with US$6.2 billion (6.77 trillion won), even though its brand value dropped as much as 11 percent.