Markets
Ranked: The Most Valuable Brands in the World
Ranking The World’s Most Valuable Brands
Due to its intangible nature, the power of a brand can be difficult to translate to a balance sheet. That said, a brand that truly connects with consumers and stands the test of time can deliver immense financial value.
Today’s graphic pulls data from the 2020 edition of Brand Finance’s annual Global 500 report, which ranks the world’s top brands by value using a multi-dimensional formula.
By quantifying the true value of a brand, investors and key decision makers can identify value that extends beyond quarterly earnings reports.
How much are brands really worth?
A Closer Look at the Leaderboard
With 18% growth in the last year resulting in an eye-watering brand value of $220 billion, Amazon is a clear winner as the world’s most valuable brand—towering over Google and Apple’s brand valuations. As the largest online marketplace on the planet, Amazon relies on innovative technologies and investments in fast-growing sectors, such as healthcare, to create a diverse retail ecosystem.
Although tech companies command five of the top 10 spots in the ranking, brands from more traditional industries are hot on their tails.
Here are the top 100 most valuable brands according to the report:
Ranking | Brand | 2020 Brand Value | YoY % Change | Country | Sector |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
#1 | Amazon | $220B | 17.5% | United States | Retail |
#2 | $160B | 11.9% | United States | Tech | |
#3 | Apple | $140B | -8.5% | United States | Tech |
#4 | Microsoft | $117B | -2.1% | United States | Tech |
#5 | Samsung | $94B | 3.5% | South Korea | Tech |
#6 | ICBC | $80B | 1.2% | China | Banking |
#7 | $79B | -4.1% | United States | Media | |
#8 | Walmart | $77B | 14.2% | United States | Retail |
#9 | Ping An | $69B | 19.8% | China | Insurance |
#10 | Huawei | $65B | 4.5% | China | Tech |
#11 | Mercedes-Benz | $65B | 7.8% | Germany | Automobiles |
#12 | Verizon | $63B | -10.5% | United States | Telecoms |
#13 | China Construction Bank | $62B | -10.2% | China | Banking |
#14 | AT&T | $59B | -32% | United States | Telecoms |
#15 | Toyota | $58B | 11.1% | Japan | Automobiles |
#16 | State Grid | $57B | 11.1% | China | Utilities |
#17 | Disney | $56B | 22.7% | United States | Media |
#18 | Agricultural Bank of China | $55B | -0.7% | China | Banking |
#19 | $54B | 6.8% | China | Media | |
#20 | Bank of China | $51B | -0.7% | China | Banking |
#21 | The Home Depot | $50B | 7.3% | United States | Retail |
#22 | China Mobile | $49B | -11.9% | China | Telecoms |
#23 | Shell | $47B | 12.4% | Netherlands | Oil & Gas |
#24 | Saudi Aramco | $47B | N/A | Saudi Arabia | Oil & Gas |
#25 | Volkswagen | $45B | 7.6% | Germany | Automobiles |
#26 | YouTube | $44B | 17.5% | United States | Media |
#27 | Tencent QQ | $44B | -11.3% | China | Media |
#28 | Starbucks | $41B | 4.5% | United States | Restaurants |
#29 | Wells Fargo | $41B | 2.3% | United States | Banking |
#30 | BMW | $40B | 0.0% | Germany | Automobiles |
#31 | Deutsche Telekom | $40B | -13.6% | Germany | Telecoms |
#32 | Moutai | $39B | 29.1% | Germany | Spirits |
#33 | PetroChina | $38B | 3.3% | China | Oil & Gas |
#34 | Coca-Cola | $38B | 4.8% | United States | Soft Drinks |
#35 | Mitsubishi Group | $38B | 42.8% | Japan | Automobiles |
#36 | McDonald’s | $37B | 18.9% | United States | Restaurants |
#37 | Taobao | $37B | -20.7 | China | Retail |
#38 | NTT Group | $36B | -12.8% | Japan | Telecoms |
#39 | Bank of America | $35B | -3.6% | United States | Banking |
#40 | Nike | $35B | 7.3% | United States | Apparel |
#41 | Porsche | $33B | 15.6% | Germany | Automobiles |
#42 | Sinopec | $33B | 14.7% | China | Oil & Gas |
#43 | IBM | $33B | 1.5% | United States | Tech |
#44 | CITI | $33B | -9% | United States | Banking |
#45 | Honda | $33B | 28.6% | Japan | Automobiles |
#46 | Marlboro | $33B | -2.7% | United States | Tobacco |
#47 | Deloitte | $32B | 9.6% | United States | Commercial Services |
#48 | Chase | $31B | -13.8% | United States | Banking |
#49 | Tmall | $31B | -15.9% | China | Retail |
#50 | UPS | $29B | 0.6% | United States | Logistics |
#51 | American Express | $29B | 6.2% | United States | Commercial Services |
#52 | Xfinity | $29B | 6.4% | United States | Telecoms |
#53 | United Healthcare | $28B | -7.4% | United States | Healthcare |
#54 | Sumitomo Group | $28B | 4.5% | Japan | Mining, Iron & Steel |
#55 | Intel | $27B | -5.5% | United States | Tech |
#56 | VISA | $27B | -3% | United States | Commercial Services |
#57 | $27B | 58% | United States | Media | |
#58 | China Life | $25B | -4.4% | China | Insurance |
#59 | Accenture | $25B | -3.8% | United States | IT Services |
#60 | Allianz | $25B | 7.5% | Germany | Insurance |
#61 | CSCEC | $25B | -3.3% | China | Engineering & Construction |
#62 | PWC | $25B | -0.3% | United States | Commercial Services |
#63 | Lowe’s | $25B | 3.4% | United States | Retail |
#64 | Mitsui | $24B | 15.8% | Japan | Mining, Iron & Steel |
#65 | General Electric | $24B | -14.4% | United States | Engineering & Construction |
#66 | EY | $24B | 2.1% | United Kingdom | Commercial Services |
#67 | Oracle | $24B | -6.7% | United States | Tech |
#68 | Cisco | $24B | 7.1% | United States | Tech |
#69 | BP | $23B | 2.6% | United Kingdom | Oil & Gas |
#70 | CVS | $23B | 9.1% | United Kingdom | Retail |
#71 | Total | $23B | 8.1% | France | Oil & Gas |
#72 | FedEx | $23B | -5.1% | United States | Logistics |
#73 | Netflix | $23B | 8.4% | United States | Media |
#74 | China Merchants Bank | $23B | 1.8% | China | Banking |
#75 | JP Morgan | $23B | 15.3% | United States | Banking |
#76 | Boeing | $23B | -29% | United States | Aerospace & Defence |
#77 | Costco | $23B | 32.1% | United States | Retail |
#78 | SK Group | $22B | -17.5% | South Korea | Telecoms |
#79 | Wuliangye | $21B | 30.1% | China | Spirits |
#80 | Evergrande | $21B | 0.5% | China | Real Estate |
#81 | Nestle | $21B | 3.4% | Switzerland | Food |
#82 | Hyundai Group | $21B | -2.8% | South Korea | Automobiles |
#83 | China Telecom | $21B | -2.8% | China | Telecoms |
#84 | Siemens | $21B | -7.2% | Germany | Engineering & Construction |
#85 | TATA Group | $21B | 2.3% | India | Engineering & Construction |
#86 | Mastercard | $21B | 8.4% | United States | Commercial Services |
#87 | Bosch | $20B | -14.6% | Germany | Engineering & Construction |
#88 | IKEA | $19B | -9.4% | Sweden | Retail |
#89 | HSBC | $19B | -3.6% | United Kingdom | Banking |
#90 | Spectrum | $19B | 25% | United States | Telecoms |
#91 | Vodafone | $19B | -10.3% | United Kingdom | Telecoms |
#92 | Pepsi | $19B | 2.2% | United States | Soft Drinks |
#93 | Alibaba | $19B | 28.8% | China | Retail |
#94 | Ford | $18B | -1.4% | United States | Automobiles |
#95 | AIA | $18B | 17.3% | China | Insurance |
#96 | Orange | $18B | -13.7% | France | Telecoms |
#97 | Nissan | $18B | -4.5% | Japan | Automobiles |
#98 | Chevron | $18B | 4.7% | United States | Oil & Gas |
#99 | GUCCI | $18B | 20.2% | Italy | Apparel |
#100 | Dell Technologies | $18B | -22.9% | United States | Tech |
American retail giant Walmart enters 2020’s top 10 ranking with an impressive brand value increase of 14% to $77.5 billion. The retailer’s recent success could be partially attributed to its growing strategic partnership with Microsoft—which currently sits in sixth place. By tapping into Microsoft’s cloud services, Walmart can now provide a digital first retail experience for its customers.
Another brand that has experienced remarkable growth is China’s leading insurance company, Ping An. With 19.8% growth, resulting in a brand value of $69 billion, the financial conglomerate’s aggressive focus on fintech R&D has garnered the company 200 million retail customers and 500 million internet users—making it one of the largest financial services companies in the world.
While the majority of the world’s most valuable brands hail from the U.S. or China, which brands lead by region?
Most Valuable Brands by Region
Not surprisingly, Amazon leads as the most valuable B2C brand across the Americas, with the exception of Latin America. Beer brand Corona, was crowned as the leader in this region, boasting a brand value of $8.1 billion.
In Europe, German companies outperformed other countries, with automotive brand Mercedes-Benz holding the title for the most valuable B2C brand for that continent—despite China being its biggest market.
On the other side of the world, Samsung reigns as Asia’s most valuable B2C brand. The company owns 54% of the nascent 5G market globally, having shipped 6.7 million 5G phones in the last year alone.
A Brand Eat Brand World
Whether brands are regional or global leaders, they still face the threat of being knocked of their perch by brands experiencing significant growth.
Climbing to the Top
With an increase of 65% to $12.4 billion, Tesla is officially the fastest-growing brand in the world. Despite concerns over not being able to keep up with demand, the electric car company is expected to exceed 500,000 vehicle deliveries in 2020. Having recently posted over $7 billion of revenue in the fourth quarter of 2019, the success of Tesla’s innovative models is sure to rattle the automotive brands in the ranking.
However, not everything comes down to innovation. European retailers Lidl and Aldi have seen growth of 40% and 37% respectively, and are only getting started.
After disrupting Europe’s entire supermarket industry by offering quality products at significantly lower prices, the chains now have their sights set on the U.S. market, with Aldi expected to surpass Kroger in sales.
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
—David Haigh, CEO Brand Finance
In contrast, there are also well established brands that have struggled to retain brand value.
Racing to the Bottom
Chinese search engine Baidu—also known as the Google of China—recorded the largest drop in brand value, decreasing by 54% to $8.9 billion. The brand has struggled with a poor reputation and intensifying market competition. As a result, the brand’s revenues and subsequently its brand value were heavily impacted.
Boeing is a prime example of the unpredictability of brand value. As a company that once imbued trust and excellent safety standards, the brand’s value has dropped by 29% due to the recent reports of accidents that have tarnished its reputation.
The True Power of Brand
Boeing’s recent hardships reflect the volatile nature of brand value. While 244 brands in the entire ranking have increased their brand value year-over-year, another 212 have taken a hit.
Part of a brand’s purpose is to manage reputation, retain loyal customers, and generate awareness. Given that a brand is the sum of its parts, the ranking proves that an issue with any of these things could trigger a chain reaction, negatively impacting a brand’s bottom line.
So is it worth companies investing in their brand? All signs point to yes, for now.
Technology
Thematic Investing: 3 Key Trends in Cybersecurity
Cyberattacks are becoming more frequent and sophisticated. Here’s what investors need to know about the future of cybersecurity.


Thematic Investing: 3 Key Trends in Cybersecurity
In 2020, the global cost of cybercrime was estimated to be around $945 billion, according to McAfee.
It’s likely even higher today, as multiple sources have recorded an increase in the frequency and sophistication of cyberattacks during the pandemic.
In this infographic from Global X ETFs, we highlight three major trends that are shaping the future of the cybersecurity industry that investors need to know.
Trend 1: Increasing Costs
Research from IBM determined that the average data breach cost businesses $4.2 million in 2021, up from $3.6 million in 2017. The following table breaks this figure into four components:
Cost Component | Value ($) |
---|---|
Cost of lost business | $1.6M |
Detection and escalation | $1.2M |
Post breach response | $1.1M |
Notification | $0.3M |
Total | $4.2M |
The greatest cost of a data breach is lost business, which results from system downtimes, reputational losses, and lost customers. Second is detection and escalation, including investigative activities, audit services, and communications to stakeholders.
Post breach response includes costs such as legal expenditures, issuing new accounts or credit cards (in the case of financial institutions), and other monitoring services. Lastly, notification refers to the cost of notifying regulators, stakeholders, and other third parties.
To stay ahead of these rising costs, businesses are placing more emphasis on cybersecurity. For example, Microsoft announced in September 2021 that it would quadruple its cybersecurity investments to $20 billion over the next five years.
Trend 2: Remote Work Opens New Vulnerabilities
According to IBM, companies that rely more on remote work experience greater losses from data breaches. For companies where 81 to 100% of employees were remote, the average cost of a data breach was $5.5 million (2021). This dropped to $3.7 million for companies that had under 10% of employees working from home.
A major reason for this gap is that work-from-home setups are typically less secure. Phishing attacks surged in 2021, taking advantage of the fact that many employees access corporate systems through their personal devices.
Type of Attack | Number of attacks in 2020 | Number of attacks in 2021 | Growth (%) |
---|---|---|---|
Spam phishing | 1.5M | 10.1M | +573% |
Credential phishing | 5.5M | 6.2M | +13% |
As detected by Trend Micro’s Cloud App Security.
Spam phishing refers to “fake” emails that trick users by impersonating company management. They can include malicious links that download ransomware onto the users device. Credential phishing is similar in concept, though the goal is to steal a person’s account credentials.
A tactic you may have seen before is the Amazon scam, where senders impersonate Amazon and convince users to update their payment methods. This strategy could also be used to gain access to a company’s internal systems.
Trend 3: AI Can Reduce the Cost of a Data Breach
AI-based cybersecurity can detect and respond to cyberattacks without any human intervention. When fully deployed, IBM measured a 20% reduction in the time it takes to identify and contain a breach. It also resulted in cost savings upwards of 60%.
A prominent user of AI-based cybersecurity is Google, which uses machine learning to detect phishing attacks within Gmail.
Machine learning helps Gmail block spam and phishing messages from showing up in your inbox with over 99.9% accuracy. This is huge, given that 50-70% of messages that Gmail receives are spam.
– Andy Wen, Google
As cybercrime escalates, Acumen Research and Consulting believes the market for AI-based security solutions will reach $134 billion by 2030, up from $15 billion in 2021.
Introducing the Global X Cybersecurity ETF
The Global X Cybersecurity ETF (Ticker: BUG) seeks to provide investment results that correspond generally to the price and yield performance, before fees and expenses, of the Indxx Cybersecurity Index. See below for industry and country-level breakdowns, as of June 2022.
Sector (By security type) | Weight |
---|---|
Cloud | 28.0% |
Network | 25.1% |
Identity | 17.7% |
Internet | 15.0% |
Endpoint | 12.8% |
Country | Weight |
---|---|
🇺🇸 U.S. | 71.6% |
🇮🇱 Israel | 13.2% |
🇬🇧 UK | 8.2% |
🇯🇵 Japan | 5.5% |
🇰🇷 South Korea | 0.9% |
🇨🇦 Canada | 0.6% |
Totals may not equal 100% due to rounding.
Investors can use this passively managed solution to gain exposure to the rising adoption of cybersecurity technologies.

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This infographic highlights the accelerating pace of layoffs so far in 2022, as businesses cut costs ahead of a potential recession.

Visualizing Major Layoffs at U.S. Corporations
Hiring freezes and layoffs are becoming more common in 2022, as U.S. businesses look to slash costs ahead of a possible recession.
Understandably, this has a lot of people worried. In June 2022, Insight Global found that 78% of American workers fear they will lose their job in the next recession. Additionally, 56% said they aren’t financially prepared, and 54% said they would take a pay cut to avoid being laid off.
In this infographic, we’ve visualized major layoffs announced in 2022 by publicly-traded U.S. corporations.
Note: Due to gaps in reporting, as well as the very large number of U.S. corporations, this list may not be comprehensive.
An Emerging Trend
Layoffs have surged considerably since April of this year. See the table below for high-profile instances of mass layoffs.
Company | Industry | Layoffs (#) | Month |
---|---|---|---|
Peloton | Consumer Discretionary | 2,800 | February |
Funko | Consumer Discretionary | 258 | April |
Robinhood | Financial Services | ~400 | April |
Nektar Therapeutics | Biotechnology | 500 | April |
Carvana | Automotive | 2,500 | May |
Doma | Financial Services | 310 | May |
JP Morgan Chase & Co. | Financial Services | ~500 | June |
Tesla | Automotive | 200 | June |
Coinbase | Financial Services | 1,100 | June |
Netflix | Technology | 300 | June |
CVS Health | Pharmaceutical | 208 | June |
StartTek | Technology | 472 | June |
Ford | Automotive | 8,000 | July |
Rivian | Automotive | 840 | July |
Peloton | Consumer Discretionary | 2,000 | July |
LoanDepot | Financial Services | 2,000 | July |
Invitae | Biotechnology | 1,000 | July |
Lyft | Technology | 60 | July |
Meta | Technology | 350 | July |
Technology | <30 | July | |
Vimeo | Technology | 72 | July |
Robinhood | Financial Services | ~795 | August |
Here’s a brief rundown of these layoffs, sorted by industry.
Automotive
Ford has announced the biggest round of layoffs this year, totalling roughly 8,000 salaried employees. Many of these jobs are in Ford’s legacy combustion engine business. According to CEO Jim Farley, these cuts are necessary to fund the company’s transition to EVs.
We absolutely have too many people in some places, no doubt about it.
– Jim Farley, CEO, Ford
Speaking of EVs, Rivian laid off 840 employees in July, amounting to 6% of its total workforce. The EV startup pointed to inflation, rising interest rates, and increasing commodity prices as factors. The firm’s more established competitor, Tesla, cut 200 jobs from its autopilot division in the month prior.
Last but not least is online used car retailer, Carvana, which cut 2,500 jobs in May. The company experienced rapid growth during the pandemic, but has since fallen out of grace. Year-to-date, the company’s shares are down more than 80%.
Financial Services
Fearing an impending recession, Coinbase has shed 1,100 employees, or 18% of its total workforce. Interestingly, Coinbase does not have a physical headquarters, meaning the entire company operates remotely.
A recession could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period. In past crypto winters, trading revenue declined significantly.
Brian Armstrong, CEO, Coinbase
Around the same time, JPMorgan Chase & Co. announced it would fire hundreds of home-lending employees. While an exact number isn’t available, we’ve estimated this to be around 500 jobs, based on the original Bloomberg article. Wells Fargo, another major U.S. bank, has also cut 197 jobs from its home mortgage division.
The primary reason for these cuts is rising mortgage rates, which are negatively impacting the demand for homes.
Technology
Within tech, Meta and Twitter are two of the most high profile companies to begin making layoffs. In Meta’s case, 350 custodial staff have been let go due to reduced usage of the company’s offices.
Many more cuts are expected, however, as Facebook recently reported its first revenue decline in 10 years. CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made it clear he expects the company to do more with fewer resources, and managers have been encouraged to report “low performers” for “failing the company”.
Realistically, there are probably a bunch of people at the company who shouldn’t be here.
– Mark Zuckerberg, CEO, Meta
Also in July, Twitter laid off 30% of its talent acquisition team. An exact number was not available, but the team was estimated to have less than 100 employees. The company has also enacted a hiring freeze as it stumbles through a botched acquisition by Elon Musk.
More Layoffs to Come…
Layoffs are expected to continue throughout the rest of this year, as metrics like consumer sentiment enter a decline. Rising interest rates, which make it more expensive for businesses to borrow money, are also having a negative impact on growth.
In fact just a few days ago, trading platform Robinhood announced it was letting go 23% of its staff. After accounting for its previous layoffs in April (9% of the workforce), it’s fair to estimate that this latest round will impact nearly 800 people.
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