With a brand value of US$150.8 billion, Amazon is now the world’s most valuable brand.

Google, last year’s highest valued brand dropped to third place with a value of $120.9 billion, with Apple coming in second this time at $146 billion.

Brand Finance’s Global 500 report ranks brands by monetary values and calculates the top brands as defined by the companies whose enterprise value is most positively impacted by the strength of the brand.

Telstra is Australia’s most valuable brand for the third year running, with its AU$15.8 billion value placing it 120th place worldwide.

Here are the top 10 most valuable Australian brands, from Brand Finance’s 2018 ‘Australia 100.’

1. Telstra: AU$15.8 billion,
2. Commonwealth Bank: $10.5 billion,
3. ANZ: $10.5 billion,
4. Woolworths: $9 billion,
5. Coles: $8.4 billion,
6. NAB: $8.3 billion,
7. Westpac: $7.4 billion,
8. BHP: $6.5 billion,
9. Optus: $5 billion, and
10. Rio Tinto: $3.9 billion.

Here’s the top 20 of Brand Finance’s Global 500.

1. Amazon: US$150.8 billion, (an increase of $44.4 billion year-on-year)
2. Apple: $146.3 billion, (+$39.2 billion year-on-year)
3. Google: $120.9 billion. (+11.4 billion)
4. Samsung: $92.9 billion, (+26.7 billion)
5. Facebook: $89.7 billion,
6. AT&T: $82.4 billion,
7. Microsoft: $81.2 billion,
8. Verizon: $62.8 billion,
9. Walmart: $61.5 billion,
10. ICBC: $59.2 billion,
11. China Construction Bank: $56.8 billion,
12. Alibaba: $54.9 billion,
13. China Mobile: $53.2 billion,
14. Wells Fargo: $44.1 billion,
15. Mercedes-Benz: $43.9 billion,
16. Toyota: $43.7 billion,
17. BMW: $41.8 billion,
18. Bank of China: $41.7 billion,
19. State Grid: $40.9 billion,
20. NTT Group: $40.8 billion.

Facebook continues its climb, with a strong $27.8 billion spike in brand value seeing it jump to 5th from 22nd place in 2016 and ninth last year.

Brand Finance calculates brand value by first calculating brand strength using marketing investment, stakeholder equity and business performance, followed by a royalty rate – reflecting the importance of brand to purchasing decisions – then forecasting revenues, and deriving brand revenues by applying the royalty rate to the forecast revenue, the brand value itself being determined after tax is removed.

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Further reading

• Which brands went up and which went down? Compare against last year’s brand value tables »
• Brand Finance also annually names the world’s most powerful brand, last year it was Lego, here’s why »

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