June 11 (UPI) -- Retail giant Amazon surpassed Google Tuesday as the world's most valuable brand -- with a total value of $315.5 billion, an increase of more than $100 million in the past year, a research group said in a new study.
In Kantar's Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands Report , Apple was listed second with a value of $309.5 billion, and Google third with $309 billion. Amazon showed the largest gain in value, of 52 percent.
For the last 12 years, either Apple or Google held the top spot in the Kantar report. California-based Google was ranked first a year ago and Amazon third.
"Amazon's phenomenal brand value growth of almost $108 billion in the last year demonstrates how brands are now less anchored to individual categories and regions," Doreen Wang, Kantar global head of BrandZ, told CNBC. "The boundaries are blurring as technology fluency allows brands, such as Amazon, google and Alibaba, to offer a range of services."
Major factors in Amazon's rise in value, the report said, are its acquisitions and investments.
Microsoft ranked fourth with $251.2 billion, followed by Visa ($178B), Facebook ($159B), Alibaba ($131.2B), Tencent ($131B), McDonald's ($130.4B) and AT&T ($108.3B).
Kantar said $328 billion in value was added to this year's list, which showed a total combined value of $4.7 trillion for all 100 brands.
