Amazon, Apple most valuable brands but China's rising - Kantar survey

Amazon and Apple are the world's most valuable brands but Chinese brands are rising up the leaders list and are more valuable than Europe's top brands, according to a global ranking by Kantar's BrandZ.

Amazon, founded in 1994 by Jeff Bezos, remained the world's most valuable brand with an estimated value of US$684 billion, followed by Apple, founded in 1976, at US$612 billion and Google at US$458 billion, Kantar said.

Tencent, China's biggest social media and video games firm, was the People's Republic's top brand, in fifth place, while Alibaba was in seventh.

"Chinese brands are steadily and slowly progressing, and have made significant headway as more companies leverage their own technological developments and demonstrate their abilities to align with the major trends shaping China and the global market," said Graham Staplehurst, global strategy director at Kantar BrandZ.

Five brands more than doubled their value, led by Chinese e-commerce giants Pinduoduo and Meituan, China's top liquor maker Moutai, China's TikTok and America's Tesla.

Tesla, founded in 2003, was the fastest growing brand and became the most valuable car brand, growing its value by 275 percent year-on-year to US$42.6 billion, Kantar said.

Top Chinese brands consolidated their lead over top European brands: China accounted for 14 percent of the top 100 brands, up from 11 percent a decade ago, while European brands accounted for 8 percent, down from 20 percent a decade ago, Kantar said.

The top European brand was France's Louis Vuitton in 21st place, followed by German SAP software group in 26th. The only British brand on the list was Vodafone in 60th place.

The world's top 100 brands were worth a combined US$7.1 trillion, Kantar said.