Market research firm Millward Brown has come out with a list of the world’s most valuable brands.. According to Reuters, the rankings were based on publicly available financial data along with primary research, including interviews with a million consumers worldwide.
At the top was Google (GOOG). Since its share of the search engine market is in the area of 50% and it makes more money than many small countries, that makes sense.
No. 5 on the list is China Mobile (CHL). The company has over 200 million customers, so that seems fair.
But, No.2 is General Electric (GE). Its stock is basically flat over the last five years, so the ranking is cold comfort for its shareholders. Ditto, No. 9 which is IBM (IBM). Over the last five years, T-bills were a better investment than Big Blue.
Wal-Mart (WMT) was No. 7. Its stock is down over 10% in the last five years. And, Coca-Cola (KO) came in at No. 4. There’s another five year loser in the market.
Oh, and Microsoft (MSFT), last year’s winner, fell to No.3. Its stock is up about 15% over the last five years. All the major indices are up more.
Wall St. should ask that Google have its name taken off the list.
Who makes this stuff up?
Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at [email protected]. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.
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