China now has one of the world's most valuable brands. 
 
 Shenzhen-based tech firm Tencent has broken into a ranking of the top 10 most valuable brands published by BrandZ. 
 
 The annual ranking is typically dominated by American companies with global reach, making the inclusion of a Chinese firm notable. 
 
 Tencent specializes in popular online games, apps, instant messaging services and online payments. It boasts a market capitalization of $330 billion, making it worth more than America's most valuable bank: JPMorgan Chase (JPM). 
 
 Here's a round-up of the world's 10 most valuable brands: 
 
 1. Google 
 
 Google (GOOGL, Tech30) is still the most valuable brand in the world; a title it has retained for seven out of the past 11 years. 
 
 Its brand value -- worth just over $245 billion -- increased by 7% from 2016. 
 
 The company has transformed itself from a simple search engine to an all-encompassing lifestyle brand, said Doreen Wang, Global Head of BrandZ. 
 
 Google's brand is associated with innovative research, self-driving cars and helpful online services like Google Drive, Google Docs and Google Maps. 
 
 Bonus: The company consistently ranks as one of the world's best employers. 
 
 2. Apple 
 
 Apple's (AAPL, Tech30) brand value nudged up by 3% to $235 billion, helping it retain the No. 2 position in the ranking. But the brand has lost some shine since 2015 when it topped the BrandZ ranking. 
 
 Wang said Apple's "innovation speed over the last year is not perceived to be as fast as Google or Amazon." 
 
 BrandZ's ranking relies heavily on consumer perceptions. If people can't see that Apple is being innovative, its brand value will suffer. 
 
 3. Microsoft 
 
 Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) has landed in the third slot for three years running. Its brand valuation nudged up by 5% to $143 billion. 
 
 "The key word is Microsoft Cloud," said Wang, who said the success of the company's cloud and business services helped improve consumer perceptions. 
 
 Microsoft generates nearly a third of its revenue and almost 40% of its operating profits from its "Intelligent Cloud" line of businesses. 
 
 Investors are clearly happy with the company: Shares have shot up by about 16% since the start of the year. 
 
 4. Amazon 
 
 Amazon (AMZN, Tech30) has been on fire over the past year and its brand value surged by 41% to hit $139 billion. 
 
 "Wherever the consumers go, Amazon is going," said Wang. "At this moment, that is the right strategy." 
 
 The retail giant offers a wide range of services: online shopping, grocery delivery, cloud computing and entertainment are just the tip of the iceberg. It's continuing to develop artificial intelligence services and its personal digital assistant, Alexa. 
 
 Investors have taken notice too, bidding up shares by 34% since the start of the year. 
 
 5. Facebook 
 
 The Facebook (FB, Tech30) brand continues to perform well, despite scandals over fake news and violent events streamed live on its platform. 
 
 Users think of Facebook as "friendly" and "helpful," said Wang. This has helped convince advertisers to move onto the platform, and users don't seem to mind the growth in advertised content, she said. 
 
 Facebook's brand value shot up by 27% over the past year to hit $130 billion. 
 
 6. AT&T 
 
 Telecom giant AT&T (T, Tech30) has appeared in the ranking for seven consecutive years and its brand has increased in value by 65% over that period. It's now worth $115 billion. 
 
 "It's becoming a more dynamic brand and increasing communications with consumers," said Wang. 
 
 The company is trying to close an acquisition of CNN's parent company, Time Warner (TWX), that is worth about $109 billion including debt. If the purchase goes ahead, it would be one of the biggest takeovers of all time. 
 
 7. Visa 
 
 Visa (V) is an American company with a name that's recognized around the world. 
 
 The company's brand value increased 10% to hit $111 billion this year. 
 
 The brand got a particularly big boost after Costco (COST) ended its relationship with American Express (AXP) last year in favor of a new one with Visa and Citigroup (C). 
 
 Millions of former Costco AmEx cards were subsequently transferred to Visa and Citi. 
 
 8. Tencent 
 
 Led by its media-shy CEO, "Pony" Ma Huateng, Tencent (TCEHY) is huge in China, where its messaging platform WeChat is used for everything from texting to booking karaoke sessions. 
 
 BrandZ said that increased used of WeChat helped to propel Tencent into the top 10 for the first time. Its brand value jumped 27% to $108 billion. 
 
 The only other Chinese firm to have cracked the top 10 is China Mobile, but it hasn't appeared on the list since 2013. 
 
 Tencent is hoping to avoid that same fate by expanding globally. It announced plans last month to set up an artificial intelligence research lab in Seattle. 
 
 "Right now they're very aggressive in going beyond China," said Wang. 
 
 9. IBM 
 
 IBM (IBM, Tech30) has been included in the ranking since it started in 2006. 
 
 This year the brand has been valued at $102 billion, up 18% from last year. 
 
 The company has helped boost its consumer appeal through the development of the artificial intelligence mascot Watson. 
 
 "Watson is the face of the company's transformation," said Wang. 
 
 10. McDonald's 
 
 McDonald's (MCD) is the only truly non-tech company to be featured in the top 10 ranking this year. 
 
 The brand has received a boost by introducing more healthy food options. It's also offering more locally-inspired options in places like China and India, said Wang. 
 
 "McDonald's has been doing pretty well compared to the other fast food restaurants," she said. ||||| Global Top 100 rises 8%, 152% over 12 years 
 
 Technology brands drive value growth 
 
 TOP-LINE, YEAR-ON-YEAR CHANGES 
 
 The 2017 BrandZ™ Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands increased 8 percent in brand value year-on-year, to $3.6 trillion, following a 3 percent increase a year ago. 
 
 Retail led the ranking in category value growth, increasing 14 percent, driven by e-commerce, with Amazon and Alibaba up 41 percent and 20 percent in value. 
 
 Aguila, a Colombian beer brand, Coca-Cola, and Pampers led in Brand Contribution, a BrandZ™ metric for the strength of brand alone without any other factors. 
 
 The BrandZ™ Business-to- Business Top 20 increased 11 percent in value, led by Shell, which rose 23 percent, and DHL and FedEx, each up 20 percent. 
 
 The value of the BrandZ™ Strong Brands Portfolio increased 124.9 percent between April 2006 and April 2017, outperforming both the S&P 500 and the MSCI World Index. 
 
 Adidas led the ranking in brand value growth, increasing 58 percent on the strength of its on-trend fashion and its initiatives to raise brand popularity in the US. 
 
 US LEADS AND CHINA RISES 
 
 54 of the Global Top 100 brands are based in the US, and US brands now comprise 71 percent of the Global Top 100 value. 
 
 US brands rose 181 percent in brand value over 12 years, compared with 102 percent for brands from other countries. 
 
 US brands rose 12 percent in value year-on-year, and other brands declined 1 percent, except Chinese brands, which grew 1 percent. 
 
 13 of the Global Top 100 brands are based in China, up from only 1 brand 12 years ago. 
 
 Chinese brands rose 937 percent in brand value over 12 years, and now comprise 11 percent of Global Top 100 value. 
 
 TECHNOLOGY DOMINATES 
 
 Apple and Google remained the No. 1 and 2 brands in the Global Top 100, each valued at almost $250 billion (combined, about the GDP of Sweden.) 
 
 Amazon entered the Global Top 10 at No. 4, with a 41 percent increase in brand value, to $139 billion. 
 
 37 technology brands comprised 54 percent of the 2017 BrandZ™ Global Top 100 value. In 2006, 30 technology brands comprised 37 percent of value. (“Technology” includes technology, telecom providers, and e-commerce brands.) 
 
 Technology brands in the Global Top 100 increased 16 percent year-on-year, compared with a 4 percent increase for other brands. 
 
 The seven Newcomer brands in this year’s Global Top 100 are technology-related: YouTube, HPE, Salesforce, Netflix, Snapchat, and telecom providers Xfinity and Sprint. 
 
 BRANDS GET YOUNGER 
 
 The average age of a Newcomer is 20 (started in 1997). 
 
 The average age of a Global Top 100 brand is 67 (started in 1950). In 2006, the average age was 83 (started in 1934). ||||| By Kerry A. Dolan and Luisa Kroll 
 
 The gap between the really rich and the merely rich continues to widen, as fortunes soar to new heights. A record 2,208 billionaires made Forbes’ 32 annual ranking of the world’s billionaires. Altogether they are worth a record $9.1 trillion, up 18% from a year ago. The 20 richest people on the planet are worth a staggering $1.2 trillion, a sum roughly equivalent to the annual economic output of Mexico. In aggregate, they may represent less than 1% of total billionaires but their riches amount to 13% of the total fortune of all billionaires worldwide. 
 
 Jeff Bezos is the richest person on the planet and the first centi-billionaire atop our annual ranking. Shares of his e-commerce giant Amazon rose 59% in 12 months, helping boost his fortune by $39.2 billion. It was the biggest one year gain since Forbes started tracking billionaires in 1987. He easily moved ahead of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates, who ceded the top spot for only the sixth time since 1995. 
 
 France’s Bernard Arnault had the second best year after Bezos. Record results at his luxury goods empire LVMH and a deal to buy out nearly all of Christian Dior helped boost Arnault’s fortune by $30.5 billion. He is the richest European for the first time since 2012 and number four richest in the world. 
 
 Two tech entrepreneurs from mainland China climbed into the top 20 for the first time. Ma Huateng (also known as Pony Ma) is Asia’s wealthiest person, ranked number 17 in the world, thanks in part to his firm Tencent’s WeChat, a ubiquitous social-messaging app with nearly 1 billion active users. Tencent also has stakes in Tesla, Snapchat parent Snap and music-streaming service Spotify. Jack Ma, the 20th richest person, is the chief of another e-commerce giant Alibaba, whose shares increased 76% in a year. 
 
 Forbes pinned down 259 newcomers who made their fortunes in everything from tech and aerospace to private aviation and wedding dresses. China has the most new faces with 89, while the U.S. is next with 18. That is helping close the gap between the two nations. Altogether the U.S. has more billionaires than any country in the world with 585, while greater China (mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) has 476. 
 
 On this year's list, the billionaires hail from 72 countries and territories, including the first ever from Hungary and Zimbabwe. One country not represented: Saudi Arabia. Forbes chose to leave off all 10 Saudis given reports of asset seizures after the Saudi Crown Prince detained some 200 people, including some billionaires, some for as long as three months. 
 
 While the vast majority of the world’s billionaires added to their fortunes in the past 12 months, 16% had fortunes that slipped. One notable loser was President Donald Trump, whose fortune fell $400 million since March 2017 to a current $3.1 billion. He is now ranked 766 in the world, down from 544. 
 
 Go here for the full list of all the world's billionaires. 
 
 Methodology 
 
 The Forbes World’s Billionaires list is a snapshot of wealth using stock prices and exchange rates from February 9, 2018. Some people will become richer or poorer within weeks—even days—of publication. For example, Jeff Bezos’ net worth climbed more than $12 billion in the two weeks between our measuring date for stock prices and when this issue went to press. We list individuals rather than multigenerational families who share large fortunes, though we include wealth belonging to a billionaire’s spouse and children if that person is the founder of the fortune. In some cases we list siblings or couples together if the ownership breakdown among them isn’t clear, but here an estimated net worth of $1 billion per person is needed to make the cut. We value a variety of assets, including private companies, real estate, art, yachts and more. We don’t pretend to know each billionaire’s private balance sheet (though some provide it). When documentation isn’t supplied or available, we discount fortunes. For daily updates of net worths, go to forbes.com/real-time-billionaires. 
 
 Acknowledgments: Special thanks to LW Hospitality Advisors, FactSet Research Systems, Orbis by Bureau Van Dijk, Real Capital Analytics, Euromonitor International, Pitchbook and the other experts who helped us with our reporting and valuations, including Eleonora Dani, Stifel Financial Corp.; Jordan Gillespie, HarrisonBowker Real Estate Appraisers; Horwath HTL; Chris Kissel, Frost & Sullivan; Kieran Maguire, University of Liverpool; Bruce Nash, The Numbers; S&P Global Market Intelligence; Irwin Stein; Surmontes Real Estate Advisors. 
 
 Editors: Luisa Kroll and Kerry A. Dolan * Additional Editing: John Koppisch, Chase Peterson-Withorn * Country Editors: Graham Button, Grace Chung, Russell Flannery, Naazneen Karmali, Abram Brown, Tatiana Serafin * Wealth Team: Angel Au-Yeung, Elena Berezanskaya, Igor Bosilkovski, Deniz Çam, Maggie Chen, Carter Coudriet, Alexandra Garfinkle, Max Jedeur-Palmgren, Noah Kirsch, Elaine Mao, Zina Moukheiber, Andrea Murphy, Anis Shakirah Mohd Muslimin, Oma Seddiq, Chloe Sorvino, Michela Tindera, Jennifer Wang and reporters at Forbes licensed editions in Austria, Czech Republic, Hungary, France, Kazakhstan, Korea, Indonesia, Middle East, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Slovakia, Turkey and Vietnam Research: Sue Radlauer * Database: Dmitri Slavinsky *Product Manager: Justin Conklin * Photography: Merrilee Barton, Kristine Gentile Smith, Robyn Selman, Gail Toivanen* Design: Charles Brucaliere, Nick DeSantis, Aliza Grant, Andres Jauregui, Anton Klusner, Amanda Lopes, Bob Mansfield, Irwin Hou, Dan Revitte Reporters: Yuri Aksyonov, Dan Alexander, Prisca Ang, Megha Bahree, Madeline Berg, Kim Bode, Nilgun Cavdar, Lauren Gensler, Ricardo Geromel, Robert Kidd, Nicole Lindsay, Robert Olsen, Lucinda Schmidt, Leonard Schoenberger, James Simms, Ozer Turan, Alexandra Wilson, Susan Adams, Jason Booth, Biz Carson, Caroline Chen, Shu-Ching Jean Chen, Muhammad Cohen, Till Dalrup, James Dunn, Rebecca Feng, Antoine Gara, Christopher Helman, Alvaro Hernandez Zorrilla, Jane Ho, Sean Kilachand, Joann Muller, Johannes Musial, Suzanne Nam, Lan Anh Nguyen, Wendy Pugh, Anuradha Raghunathan, Natalie Robehmed, Sheela Sarvananda, Samantha Sharf, Neha Soni, Jessica Tan, Tim Treadgold, Kate Vinton, Jennifer Wells* Assistant Editors: Hayley Cuccinello, Daniel Kleinman *Video: Kirsten Taggart
– Bragging rights for the world's most valuable brands are usually controlled by US companies, but in this year's ranking by BrandZ, one of China's own cracked the top 10, CNN reports. Tencent, which makes online games, apps, and other digital add-ons, rode on the coattails of its WeChat app to make the list, which saw the familiar names of Google, Apple, and Microsoft dominate the first three slots, respectively. The top 10 brands, along with brand value: Google, $246 billion Apple, $235 billion Microsoft, $143 billion Amazon.com, $139 billion Facebook, $130 billion AT&T, $115 billion Visa, $111 billion Tencent, $108 billion IBM, $102 billion McDonald's, $98 billion See the entire list here. (Do we even care about brands anymore?)