Google named top global brand

Google is now the world's most powerful brand, according to market research by Millward Brown in conjunction with the FT.

For the second year in a row, a tech brand has come first in the firm's top 100 - last year it was Microsoft.

In all, one in five brands in the list are technology companies, second only to the finance sector.

The ten most powerful global brands, according to the research, are:

1. Google - $66.4bn
2. General Electric - $61.9bn
3. Microsoft - $55bn
4. Coca-Cola - $44.1bn
5. China Mobile - $41.2bn
6. Marlboro - $39.2bn
7. Wal-Mart - $36.9bn
8. Citi - $33.7bn
9. IBM - $33.6bn
10. Toyota - $33.4bn

In the UK, they are:

1. Vodafone
2. HSBC
3. Tesco
4. M&S
5. Royal Bank of Scotland
6. Barclays
7. BP
8. Asda
9. Standard Chartered Bank
10. Lloyds TSB