In this article, we take a look at the 25 most famous companies in the world. If you want to see more most famous companies in the world, go directly to 5 Most Famous Companies in the World.
In terms of branding, being very famous has its advantages in business.
If a brand is well known, companies don’t have to advertise as much as companies with brands that aren’t as well known, all else equal.
If a brand is well known and also well liked, companies could potentially sell more products at potentially higher prices. By selling more products at higher prices, companies can potentially realize higher margins and more profits, all else equal. With more profits, a company would have more resources to invest in growing faster.
When a company has a leading brand, it can potentially launch new products easier as well. Because consumers are already familiar with one product of a brand, they might be more willing to try another product of the same brand, even though it might be a new product.
Although there are great advantages to having a famous brand, branding building can be difficult. For the leading companies with famous brands, it can take years or even decades to build a brand.
As a result, the world’s most famous brands don’t change very much from year to year.
Leading Brands
Some of the world’s most profitable companies are companies with leading brands such as Apple or Microsoft. Many of the companies with leading brands are consumer companies that sell products and services to consumers. Many are based in the United States, China, or Europe as those three economic blocs have the three largest economies, respectively.
By having a strong brand, companies have a competitive advantage over companies that don’t have as strong of a brand. Branding is just one aspect of a business, however, and the success and the growth of a business depends on many different things. Nevertheless having a famous brand helps.
Methodology
For our list of 25 Most Famous Companies in the World, we used Brand Finance’s Global 500 2022 Ranking List that measures brand value in 2022 of different companies.
Given fame is something that’s hard to rank, we used the brand value of a company as an indicator, even though isn’t exactly precise.
The following list is the name of companies as many people know them. The brand name is the same as the name of the company as people know them. Companies can have commonly known names such as Microsoft, and official names such as Microsoft Corporation or Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT). It is up for the reader to do more research on the official names.
25 Most Famous Companies in the World
25. Tmall
2022 Brand Value: $49.2 billion
Tmall is a leading business to consumer online retail platform in China with substantial scale. For the 12 months ended March 31, 2022, Tmall was the third largest third party online and mobile commerce platform for brands and retailers in the world in terms of GMV. Tmall also has one of the most valuable brands in the world with a brand value of $49.2 billion in 2022. Tmall is a business of Alibaba Group.
24. Bank of China
2022 Brand Value: $49.6 billion
Bank of China is one of China’s big four banks with around 327 million customers in China in 2021. Given it provides banking services to many people in China, the company is very well known in the country. Bank of China also ranks among the most profitable banks in the world given China’s large economy. In 2022, Bank of China had a brand value of $49.6 billion, ranking #24 on our list of 25 Most Famous Companies in the World.
23. Shell
2022 Brand Value: $49.9 billion
Shell, also known as Shell plc and previously known as Royal Dutch Shell, is one of the largest British companies by revenue given the surge in oil and gas prices last year. In terms of brand value, the company has the most valuable brand name among all oil and gas companies with a 2022 brand value of $49.9 billion.
22. Taobao
2022 Brand Value: $53.8 billion
Taobao is a leading Chinese online shopping platform that’s owned by Alibaba Group. In 2022, Taobao had a brand value of $53.8 billion, surpassing the brand value of Alibaba Group’s other e-commerce platform, Tmall.
21. Ping An
2022 Brand Value: $54.4 billion
Ping An, also known as Ping An Insurance, is a leading financial services group in China that provides insurance, banking, asset management, and other services. With more than 225 million retail customers and 668 million internet users, Ping An is very famous in China and the company had a brand value of $54.4 billion in 2022.
20. Home Depot
2022 Brand Value: $56.3 billion
Home Depot, also known as The Home Depot, is a leading home improvement retailer in the U.S. that has seen demand growth slow due to the rise in interest rates in 2022. With inflation showing signs of potentially having peaked last year in the U.S. however, interest rates might not rise too much further and demand for The Home Depot could improve. In 2022, The Home Depot had a brand value of $56.3 billion.
19. Disney
2022 Brand Value: $57.1 billion
Disney, also known as The Walt Disney Company, is an entertainment conglomerate that had a 2022 brand value of $57.1 billion. Given many consumers are already familiar with Disney’s movies, the company hopes many will sign up to Disney+ for similar experiences and the streaming video service won’t have to spend as much on consumer acquisition costs as it would have if it weren’t part of Disney.
18. TikTok
2022 Brand Value: $59 billion
TikTok is a short video app that’s the international version of the Chinese short video app, Douyin. Both have grown substantially in recent years and inspired competition from other tech giants as well. In terms of their brand values combined, TikTok and Douyin have a 2022 brand value of $59 billion. Tiktok and Douyin are owned by Chinese company ByteDance.
17. Deutsche Telekom
2022 Brand Value: $60.2 billion
Deutsche Telekom is one of the world’s largest telecoms with around 248 million mobile customers, 26 million fixed-network lines, and 22 million broadband lines. Given it has so many mobile customers, Deutsche Telekom is well known in Europe and the company has a brand value of $60.2 billion in 2022.
16. State Grid
2022 Brand Value: $60.2 billion
State Grid, also known as State Grid Corporation of China, is the largest utility company in the world. Given it provides electricity to many people in China, State Grid is famous in the country and the brand was worth $60.2 billion in 2022.
15. Mercedes-Benz
2022 Brand Value: $60.8 billion
Mercedes-Benz is a leading German luxury car company that is known for its premium cars. Given its strong brand, Mercedes-Benz can charge more for its cars than many other auto makers and as a result, it can also realize higher margins. In 2022, Mercedes-Benz had a brand value of $60.8 billion.
14. Agricultural Bank Of China
2022 Brand Value: $62 billion
Agricultural Bank Of China is one of China’s biggest state owned banks with a 2022 brand value of $62 billion. In terms of customers, the company actually has the most among the ‘big four’ Chinese banks with 878 million customers in 2021 according to Statista.com. In 2022, the company had a brand value of $62 billion.
13. WeChat
2022 Brand Value: $62.3 billion
WeChat is one of China’s most popular super apps that’s used by over a billion people every month. WeChat is owned by the Chinese company Tencent and the name brand of the app was worth $62.3 billion in 2022.
12. Toyota
2022 Brand Value: $64.3 billion
Toyota is a leading Japanese auto maker with a 2022 brand value of $64.3 billion. Given Toyota has a strong brand, the company often has repeat customers who buy Toyota for their next auto purchases too. As a result, Toyota doesn’t have to spend as much on advertising as if it didn’t have a strong brand.
11. China Construction Bank
2022 Brand Value: $65.5 billion
China Construction Bank is one of China’s biggest state owned banks with hundreds of millions of customers. In 2022, China Construction Bank’s brand name also ranked among the world’s most valuable with a brand value of $65.5 billion.
10. Verizon
2022 Brand Value: $69.6 billion
Verizon, also known as Verizon Communications, is one of the leading telecommunication companies in the United States with a brand value of $69.6 billion in 2022. According to Statista, Verizon had 31% of the wireless subscriptions market in the U.S. in Q2 2022, making it one of the most well known companies in America. Verizon ranks #10 on our list of 25 Most Famous Companies in the World.
9. Huawei
2022 Brand Value: $71.2 billion
Huawei is a leading Chinese tech company that originally produced high end smartphones that gave it substantial brand recognition among consumers. Given U.S. sanctions, however, Huawei has had to depend on businesses from enterprise and government instead. In 2022, the company had a brand value of $71.2 billion.
8. ICBC
2022 Brand Value: $75.1 billion
ICBC, also known as Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, has the most valuable brand name among China’s ‘big four’ state owned banks with a 2022 brand value of $75.1 billion. According to Statista.com, ICBC also had 704 million customers in 2021, making it very well known. ICBC ranks #8 on our list of 25 Most Famous Companies in the World.
7. Facebook
2022 Brand Value: $101.2 billion
Although the parent company of Facebook has changed its name to Meta, the brand Facebook remains very valuable with a 2022 brand value of $101.2 billion. Billions of people every day still use the company’s family of apps and the name is still widely recolonized through the world given the Facebook app still ranks among the world’s most used apps.
6. Samsung Group
2022 Brand Value: $107.3 billion
Samsung Group is a leading South Korean conglomerate that is widely known throughout the world for its leading products. In particular, Samsung Electronics makes premium smartphones that command high margins given their brand strength. In 2022, Samsung Group had a brand value of $107.3 billion.
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Disclosure: None. 25 Most Famous Companies in the World is originally published on Insider Monkey.
