In the latest Brand Finance Global 500 report, Amazon’s brand value increased 42% to take the top spot.

Apple held onto second spot with its brand value rebounding to $146.3bn after a fall of 27% last year, but Brand Finance said its future “looks bleak” with insufficient diversification, an over-dependence on iPhone sales and too much focus on luxury products.

Google dropped from 1^st to 3^rd position, with a relatively slow brand value growth of 10% to $120.9bn.

For the first time in this study, technology brands hold the top five places in the league table. Samsung ( 4^th, $92.3bn) and Facebook ( 5^th, $89.7bn) achieved year-on-year brand value growth of 39% and 45% respectively.

David Haigh, CEO of Brand Finance, said: “Jeff Bezos once said that ‘brands are more important online than they are in the physical world’. He has proved himself right by choosing the name Amazon, known as the largest, most powerful river in the world, as 23 years later the Amazon brand carries all before it as an unstoppable force.

“The strength and value of the Amazon brand gives it stakeholder permission to extend relentlessly into new sectors and geographies. All evidence suggests that the amazing Amazon brand is going to continue growing indefinitely and exponentially.”