Amazon AMZN, -0.24% has beaten Google GOOG, +0.10%, Apple AAPL, +0.36% and Microsoft MSFT, -0.48%, to become the world’s most valuable brand, according to a global report.
The value of the e-commerce giant’s brand has soared 17.5% to a record $220.8 billion - the first brand to top $200 billion - the Brand Finance Global 500 index found. Google, which comes second, also climbed in value, while third-placed Apple and fourth-placed Microsoft saw their brand values dip.
Samsung 005930, -1.61% ranked fifth on the list, while three Chinese brands - Industrial and Commercial Bank of China 1398, -0.88% , Huawei and insurer Ping An made it into the top ten, alongside Facebook FB, -0.05% and Walmart WMT, +0.44% .
“The disrupter of the entire retail ecosystem, the brand that boasts the highest brand value ever, Amazon continues to impress across imperishable consumer truths: value, convenience and choice,” Brand Finance chief executive David Haigh said.
In contrast to its online retail rival, eBay’s EBAY, +0.48% brand value fell 9% to $8.2 billion over the year, while brick-and-mortar retailers Walmart, Aldi and Lidl saw their values surge.
“Despite the unprecedented disruption caused by e-commerce, the popular assertion that entering digital operations brings instant success while bricks and mortar stores are doomed for extinction is being proved wrong,” Haigh said.
Chinese software giant Baidu BIDU, -1.68% , which reported its first quarterly loss this year since listing in 2005, recorded the sharpest drop in value, falling 54% to $8.9 billion. Ride hailing giant Uber UBER, -1.49% was also among the fastest fallers after its disappointing IPO, dropping 32% to $15.3 billion. Tesla TSLA, +4.09% was the fastest-growing brand, jumping 65% to $12.4 billion in a year that has seen the electric car company expand into China.
Saudi Aramco 2222, -0.29% was the most valuable new entrant, placing 24th with a value of $46.8 billion following its blockbuster IPO at the end of 2019. However the Saudi state-owned oil giant still ranks below Shell RDSA, -0.84% - Britain’s most valuable brand.