Top Ten Valuable Brands
Forbes announced its annual study of the world’s 100 most valuable brands on May 23 (local time) after it evaluated more than 200 global brands based on three years of earnings and allocated a percentage of those earnings based on the role brands play in each industry to determine the final list of 100.
Samsung's brand value was estimated at US$38.2 billion (42.9 trillion won) this year, up 6 percent from a year earlier. Accordingly, the company ranked in 10th place, up one notch from last year. Samsung Electronics was the only South Korean company on the top 10 list. Hyundai Motor Co. came in 68th as the company’s brand value stood at US$8.9 billion (9.99 trillion won), up 10 percent from a year ago.
Apple topped the list with a brand value of US$170 billion (190.91 trillion won), showing a 10 percent increase from last year. Google ranked second at US$101.8 billion (114.32 trillion won), followed by Microsoft at US$87 billion (97.7 trillion won), Facebook at US$73.5 billion (82.54 trillion won), Coca-Cola at US$56.4 billion (63.34 trillion won), Amazon at US$54.1 billion (60.75 trillion won), Disney at US$43.9 billion (49.3 trillion won), Toyota at US$41.1 billion (46.16 trillion won) and McDonald's at US$40.3 billion (45.26 trillion won). In particular, Facebook and Amazon saw their brand values grow a whopping 40 percent and 54 percent, respectively.
Brands from U.S.-based companies made up over half of the list with 52 brands. The next greatest numbers are Germany (11 brands), France (7), Japan (6), Switzerland (4), Spain (3) and South Korea (2).