CNET:

Each year, FutureBrand looks at the 100 biggest companies by market capitalization, asks 3,000 consumers and industry professionals in 17 countries about them and produces a ranking of what it calls perception strength, rather than financial strength.

This year shows Apple regaining the top spot, after last year’s painfully abject slide into second place behind Google.

And:

Those of drier countenance and Android phones will realize quickly that Google is no longer one of the 100 largest companies by market capitalization. It’s now part of Alphabet, so Apple didn’t have to contend with last year’s winner.

It did, though, have to compete with Alphabet, whose self-driving car must have suffered a software malfunction — as it only propelled the company to 21st place.

Of course, this must be mostly down to the idea that many consumers might not have heard of Alphabet at all.

I still find the move to Alphabet confusing. It’s a holding company, but it was named without connection to one of the biggest brands in the world, a brand it was built to contain.