E X P E R I A - A N ! N U M

New York: Global technology major
Apple tops the Forbes list of the
'World's Most Valuable Brands',
ahead of giants Microsoft and Coca
Cola.
The Forbes Top 50 list of the
world's most valuable brands,
compiled by the magazine, is
dominated by 32 US firms. The top
nine brands in the list were from the
US. No Indian company features in
the list.
Tech major Apple, which topped
the list, "is a company that has faced
setbacks before and bounced back
to become the world's most
valuable brand--worth USD 57.4
billion," Forbes noted.
The magazine further said, "Apple
shows just how a brand can
survive and thrive even when a
parent company stumbles. Apple's
sales in the late 1990s plummeted
46 per cent over a four-year stretch
while the company lost money
seven times over eight quarters."
Interestingly, tech brands accounted
for 30 per cent of the top 50 brands,
occupying four of the first five
places in the Forbes rankings.
Financial services and food and
beverage firms captured six spots
each.
Tech major Apple, which topped
the list, is followed by software
major Microsoft, with a brand value
of USD 56.6 billion.
Beverage firm Coca Cola was third,
with a brand value of USD 55.4
billion, followed by technology giant
IBM, now worth USD 43 billion and
search titan Google, which came
fifth in the ranking with a brand
value of USD 39.7 billion.
Other companies featuring in the
top 10 include US-based
McDonald's, General Electric,
Marlboro and Intel and Finnish
handset maker Nokia at the tenth
spot.
"The brands on our list fared a little
better, with sales, on average, flat in
2009. Some brands were hit hard
by the economic downturn as well
as their own missteps," Forbes said.
Among the other top 50 brands are
Toyota (11), Vodafone (13), Pepsi
(24), Nescafe (29), Frito-Lay (38),
ESPN (48) and Gucci (50).
News Source-BBC