Global Top 5 Brands

The brand value of Samsung Group, which includes Samsung Electronics, came to 105 trillion won (US$93 billion) this year, the fourth largest in the world after Amazon, Apple and Google.

South Korean tech behemoth Samsung Electronics Co. has seen its brand value surge to nearly 90 trillion won (US$79.72 billion) this year. The figure was eight times higher than that of the No. 2 firm in South Korea and much higher than the combined amount of the remaining top 10 companies in the nation.

According to related industry sources on Sept. 10, Samsung Electronics topped the brand value list of 50 South Korean companies released by British consulting firm Brand Finance. Samsung’s brand value was estimated at 88.8 trillion won (US$78.65 billion), an all-time high and a 57 percent increase from the 56.5 trillion won (US$50.04 billion) in the previous year. It was eight times higher than the brand value of Hyundai Motor Co. that ranked second with 11.3 trillion won (US$10.01 billion) and 11 times higher than 8 trillion won (US$7.09 billion) of LG Electronics that came in third. The brand value of Samsung Electronics was also higher than the combined amount of the remaining top 10 companies, which was tallied at 59.8 trillion won (US$52.97 billion).

In addition, SK Telecom Co. took fourth place with a brand value of 7.7 trillion won (US$6.82 billion), followed by KT Corp. with 6 trillion won (US$5.31 billion), SK Hynix Inc. with 5.9 trillion won (US$5.23 billion), Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) with 5.8 trillion won (US$5.14 billion), Kia Motors Corp. with 5.3 trillion won (US$4.69 billion), KB Financial Group with 5.3 trillion won (US$4.69 billion) and Samsung C&T Corp. with 4.5 trillion won (US$3.99 billion). Memory chip giant SK Hynix jumped to sixth place this year from 16th last year as its brand value shot up 84 percent on-year thanks to a super boom in its memory chip business.

Brand Finance said that Samsung showed off its remarkable brand strength by overcoming the most difficult of challenges, such as the explosion of the Galaxy Note 7s in 2016 and the jailing of Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong last year.

The brand value of Samsung Group, which includes Samsung Electronics, came to 105 trillion won (US$93 billion) this year, the fourth largest in the world after Amazon, Apple and Google. Six other Samsung units were also included on the top 50 list – Samsung C&T Corp. (10th), Samsung SDS Co. (14th), Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance Co. (18th), Samsung Life Insurance Co. (26th), Samsung Card Co. (36th) and Samsung Electro-Mechanics Co. (50th).

Brand Finance CEO David Haigh said, “Samsung’s rebound from challenging times has been possible due to the remarkable strength of the brand and because Samsung has become a global byword for high quality products. Domestically, it has no equal. Internationally, it is the only non-American brand amongst the five most valuable brands in the world.”

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