Apple has been usurped by Google as the world’s most valuable brand, according to the annual Global 500 rankings.

The Global 500 predicts how much a firm’s brand is likely to be worth in terms of money and power over the coming months, based on categories including financial stability and sustainability.  It found that Google’s value had risen 24 per cent in the past year while Apple’s has dropped somewhat considerable by 27 per cent –yet still took second place.

Google’s brand value is estimated at $109. 4 billion, while Apple is just behind at $107.1 billion. Amazon kept its third place position with a brand valuation of $106.4 billion, followed by AT&T at $87 billionn and Microsoft at $76.3 billion. Facebook claimed the ninth spot in the rankings with a value of just under $62 billion.

In its research for “most powerful brand”, Global 500 put Lego at number 1, with its expanded ventures into movies, TV content, gaming and theme parks having proved fruitful indeed for the Danish company. The Walt Disney company, last years’ number 1, slid to 6^th place whilst Google took 2^nd spot.

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