Amazon Emerges As ‘World’s Most Valuable Brand’ 2018

Brand Finance, a business valuation consultancy company, has revealed its Global 500 brands list for 2018. The list captures the most valuable brands of the year as suggested by consumer data, and financial and business performance information of the featured brands. In this year’s list, Amazon takes the top spot for the first time as the most valuable brand in the world in 2018, ahead of tech giants like Google and Apple. Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, also experienced a forward financial leap last year trumping Bill Gates, and emerging as the world’s richest man, according to the Forbes’ Billionaire list. The position of world’s most valuable brand was formerly held by Google. The search giant has shockingly dropped 2 steps to third place, just below Apple. Brand Finance notes that Amazon recorded almost 42% year-on-year increase in its brand value, increasing their value to over $150.8 billion. Samsung and Facebook came in at 4^th and 5^th place respectively. Amazon is currently the largest online business by market capitalization and revenue. Besides e-commerce, the company has a strong presence in the cloud infrastructure and electronics industry, and is present in music and video streaming. In addition, 2017 $13.7 billion Whole Foods acquisition took Amazon from the digital to the physical realm.  Amazon also introduced the world’s first cashier-less retail store – Amazon Go, where customers can pick items from the store and walk out of the store, while Amazon’s advanced systems complete the payment details. Apple holds second place in the Global 500 brands list with its brand value at $146.3 billion after a 37% increase in value since last year. According to the firm, Apple’s over-dependence on iPhone sales might be the reason why they aren’t no.1. iPhone X sales didn’t quite get the Cupertino giant where it intended, and according to reports, the company will discontinue the device this summer. Google holds the third position with its brand value at $120.9 billion. Google’s main revenue source comes from advertising, but the company’s business efforts mostly revolve around the internet and software. Google has also invested in smartphone hardware and self-driving cars, but the businesses still lack the scale of Amazon’s ventures. Samsung just recently beat Intel as the world’s largest chipmaker, a feat that probably helped the company secure the 4^th place on the Global 500 brands list. The most valuable brands’ list continues to include Facebook, AT&T, Microsoft, Verizon, Walmart, and ICBC.