World family business brand values increase
Family business Toyota shot up almost one-third in its brand portfolio value to $55.3 billion this year, in the latest annual evaluation of the world's most powerful brands.
The Japanese company owned by the Toyoda family grew by 30% to become the fifth fastest growing portfolio of brands, according to branded business valuation and strategy consultancy Brand Finance.
However, fellow auto family business Volkswagen saw the biggest drop in the table this year, down from sixth place last year to 23rd. Controlled by the German Porsche and Piëch families, Volkswagen's portfolio value dropped 36% to $42.2 billion in the wake of the emissions test scandal.
Electronics family business Samsung, controlled by South Korea's Lee family, fell one place to the third spot with just a slight 2% year-on-year decline in portfolio value to $83.1 million.
The Walmart owning Waltons, the richest family in the US, climbed one place to fourth, with a 7% year-on-year jump in brand value to $77.5 million.
Other high-ranking family businesses in the top 100 most valuable brand portfolios included the century-old Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW), owned by Germany's Quandt family. The auto manufacturer was ranked 24th, up noticeably from 19th last year. BMW's brand portfolio value was $41.5 million, an 8% improvement in value on 2015.
Comcast, the 53-year-old American media conglomerate controlled by the Roberts family, stepped up one to 29th place. Its brand value was $34.4 million, up by 14%.
However, the 107-year-old French cosmetics empire L'Oreal, fell from 32nd place last year to 37th this year, with a portfolio value of $31.6 million, a drop of 10%.
The total value of the table was $3.2 trillion, half of which was from the 44 US companies, with a combined value of $1.68 trillion. A total of 14 Chinese companies featured in the table, making it the country with the second highest number of portfolios. They came to $347 billion of the total sum.
A total of nine European Union countries made the table and were home to 29 brands, nine of which were based in the United Kingdom – more than any other European country.
Nestlé's portfolio had the most number of brands, with more than 500 valued at $66.6 billion.
The fastest growing portfolio this year was the Agricultural Bank of China, with a value of $32.3 billion after enjoying 42% growth.
Brand Finance said Chinese banks performed well on brand equity measures such as familiarity, consideration, recommendation and preference as a result of investing in their brands.
“It must be noted that none of the Chinese portfolios in the table dropped in value,” the consultancy said.
Top 20 Most Valuable Brand Portfolios (Family Businesses in Bold)
Rank 2016 Rank 2015 Parent Co Country Value 2016 ($M)
1 1 Apple Inc US 145,918
2 3 Alphabet Inc US 99,046
3 2 Samsung Group South Korea 81,716
4 5 Walmart Stores Inc US 77,523
5 4 Microsoft Corp US 74,121
6 11 Amazon.com Inc US 69,642
7 9 Nestle Switzerland 58,300
8 7 Verizon Comms Inc US 63,116
9 8 AT&T Inc US 59,904
10 16 Toyota Motor Corp Japan 55,285
11 10 Procter & Gamble Co US 54,668
12 12 PepsiCo Inc US 53,169
13 N/A Philip Morris Int US 52,734
14 17 Johnson & Johnson US 50,651
15 15 China Mobile Ltd China 49,864
16 13 Coca-Cola Co US 48,301
17 25 Wells Fargo & Co US 44,170
18 21 JP Morgan Chase US 43,549
19 18 Walt Disney Co US 43,458
20 N/A McDonald's Corp US 42,937
