Google Edges Out Apple as World’s Most Valuable Brand

Google now tops Apple as the world’s most valuable brand, according to the annual BrandZ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brand ranking by Millward Brown.

The study found that Google’s brand value rose 40% to $159 billion while Apple, which has held the premier spot for the past three years, dropped 20% to $148 billion.

“I think the world is looking at Apple as a brand that created an Earth-shattering revolution, and I think that has slowed down a bit,” Oscar Yuan, vice president at Millward Brown Optimor, told AdWeek.

Google, meanwhile, has continued to reap the benefits of its search engine and popular Android mobile operating system, while Google Glass has set the bar for wearable technology, and experiments such as a self-driving car have underscored the Mountain View-company’s ambitious imagination and appetite for innovation.

Tech-companies ruled the ranking, with IBM and Microsoft grabbing the third and fourth spots, leaving McDonald’s as the only non-tech brand to round out the top 5.