The most valuable companies in 2018 all share a common underlying theme; each one of these megalithic businesses are tech giants. But beyond this, these companies are supremely different from each other, with each one rising to the top of their respective genre.

Apple: Valued at $182.8 Billion

Company Snapshot

Leading category: Phones
Date Founded: 1976
CEO: Tim Cook
Total Funding: $6.2 billion
Number of companies acquired: 97

What Made This Brand So Successful?

• Around the world, Apple’s famous Macintosh symbol is recognizable.
• Apple’s branding strategy has remained successful: make quality products that are intuitive and user-friendly.
• The company uses consistent aesthetics across their products which makes them instantly recognizable.
• They localize their marketing strategies to best suit their individual target markets–the same holds true for their store designs.

Google: Valued at $132.1 Billion

Company Snapshot

Leading category: Search
Date Founded: 1998
CEO: Sundar Pichai
Total Funding: $36.1 million
Number of companies acquired: 225

What Made This Brand So Successful?

• They have remained innovative since they were founded.
• Google harnessed the power of online advertising to generate revenue.
• Users access the service multiple times a day.
• It provides more accurate search results compared to its competitors
• As a company, Google has never been afraid to go against the grain of conventional thinking.

Microsoft: Valued at $104.8 Billion

Company Snapshot

Leading category: Software
Date Founded: 1975
CEO: Satya Nadella
Total Funding: $1 million
Number of companies acquired: 202

What Made This Brand So Successful?

• They have created opportunities and risen to meet consumer demand.
• Like Apple, Microsoft’s logo is widely and instantly recognizable around the world.
• Their products are highly customizable.
• The brand’s value have surpassed and outlasted its competitors, both in hardware (Compaq, Dell, etc.) and in software (Lotus, Borland, Novell, etc).
• Even when Microsoft is doing bad, it’s still doing good–after the business was in decline for nearly a full decade, the company was still generating impressive profit margins.
• Microsoft has managed to avoid any significant pitfalls throughout the life of their business.

Facebook: Valued at $94.8 Billion

Company Snapshot

Leading category: Social Media
Date Founded: 2004
CEO: Mark Zuckerberg
Total Funding: $2.3 billion
Number of companies acquired: 74

What Made This Brand So Successful?

• Facebook moves fast in a time where moving fast is supremely important.
• From the beginning, it performed better than its competitors (of which there were many), because Facebook understands how to execute its ideas properly.
• They have taken a simple approach and were careful not to overbuild their product, all the while focusing primarily on ease of use for the consumer.
• Facebook places emphasis on preventing and avoiding pitfalls
• This company focuses on developing their product first, and business operations second.

Amazon: Valued at $70 Billion

Company Snapshot

Leading category: eCommerce
Date Founded: 1994
CEO: Jeff Bezos
Total Funding: $108 million
Number of companies acquired: 80

What Made This Brand So Successful?

• Amazon utilizes unorthodox management strategies which have proven to be supremely successful.
• They are tops when it comes to staying innovative.
• Rather than focusing on their competition, Amazon has focused first on providing outstanding customer service.
• Amazon has been able to successfully scale their ordering and shipping processes.
• They don’t focus on one key area–instead Amazon has presented a range of diversified products, categories, and markets.