Apple Tops Ranking of 'World's Most Admired Companies' for Ninth Year

Apple has been awarded the top spot on Fortune's list of the "World's Most Admired Companies," marking the ninth consecutive win for the Cupertino-based company on the list. After Apple, Alphabet (Google's parent company), Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and Walt Disney round out the top five spots.

Fortune Admired Companies 2016

There's a new AAA standard in corporate America: the one-two three punch of Apple, Alphabet, and Amazon. For the fourth time, our list of the World’s Most Admired Companies Top 50 All-Stars is led by a trio of tech giants under 40 years old. They preside over a class of blue chips and even younger tech stalwarts, such as Facebook (No. 14), Salesforce (No. 34), and Netflix, which makes a return to the Top 50 at an impressive No. 19. They also are joined by newcomers Visa and Publix, which make debuts at Nos. 47 and 49.

The list was whittled down from a collection of the 1,000 largest U.S. companies ranked by revenue, along with 500 non-United States companies with revenue reaching, or exceeding, $10 billion. Fortune's survey partners at Korn Ferry Hay Group then interviewed executives, directors, and analysts to rate the companies within their own industry on nine criteria, including investment value and social responsibility.

Apple got a score of 8.6, beating out Alphabet's second place marking of 8.2. Notably, the iPhone maker also came in first in all of the nine key attributes of reputation, unlike in years past where a few other companies edged it out in topics like global competitiveness. Other prominent companies on the list include Facebook (14th), Microsoft (17th), Netflix (19th), and AT&T (48th).

To see the full ranking of the World's Most Admired Companies, visit Fortune's website.

Popular Stories

iOS 26

15 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.2

Friday December 5, 2025 9:40 am PST by
Apple is about to release iOS 26.2, the second major point update for iPhones since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least 15 notable changes and improvements worth checking out. We've rounded them up below. Apple is expected to roll out iOS 26.2 to compatible devices sometime between December 8 and December 16. When the update drops, you can check Apple's servers for the ...
Foldable iPhone 2023 Feature 1

Apple to Make More Foldable iPhones Than Expected

Tuesday December 9, 2025 9:59 am PST by
Apple has ordered 22 million OLED panels from Samsung Display for the first foldable iPhone, signaling a significantly larger production target than the display industry had previously anticipated, ET News reports. In the now-seemingly deleted report, ET News claimed that Samsung plans to mass-produce 11 million inward-folding OLED displays for Apple next year, as well as 11 million...
iPhone 14 Pro Dynamic Island

iPhone 18 Pro Leak Adds New Evidence for Under-Display Face ID

Monday December 8, 2025 4:54 am PST by
Apple is actively testing under-screen Face ID for next year's iPhone 18 Pro models using a special "spliced micro-transparent glass" window built into the display, claims a Chinese leaker. According to "Smart Pikachu," a Weibo account that has previously shared accurate supply-chain details on Chinese Android hardware, Apple is testing the special glass as a way to let the TrueDepth...
iOS 26

Apple Seeds Second iOS 26.2 Release Candidate to Developers and Public Beta Testers

Monday December 8, 2025 10:18 am PST by
Apple today seeded the second release candidate version of iOS 26.2 to developers and public beta testers, with the software coming one week after Apple seeded the first RC. The release candidate represents the final version iOS 26.2 that will be provided to the public if no further bugs are found. Registered developers and public beta testers can download the betas from the Settings app on...
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

10 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Monday December 1, 2025 2:40 am PST by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
Google maps feaure

Google Maps Quietly Added This Long-Overdue Feature for Drivers

Wednesday December 10, 2025 2:52 am PST by
Google Maps on iOS quietly gained a new feature recently that automatically recognizes where you've parked your vehicle and saves the location for you. Announced on LinkedIn by Rio Akasaka, Google Maps' senior product manager, the new feature auto-detects your parked location even if you don't use the parking pin function, saves it for up to 48 hours, and then automatically removes it once...
Johny Srouji

Apple's Chipmaking Chief Johny Srouji Responds to Report About Him Potentially Leaving

Monday December 8, 2025 9:23 am PST by
Apple's chipmaking chief Johny Srouji has reportedly indicated that he plans to continue working for the company for the foreseeable future. "I love my team, and I love my job at Apple, and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon," said Srouji, in a memo obtained by Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Here is Srouji's full memo, as shared by Bloomberg:I know you've been reading all kind of rumors and...
Johny Srouji

Apple Chip Chief Johny Srouji Could Be Next to Go as Exodus Continues

Sunday December 7, 2025 10:41 am PST by
Apple's senior vice president of hardware technologies Johny Srouji could be the next leading executive to leave the company amid an alarming exodus of leading employees, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports. Srouji apparently recently told CEO Tim Cook that he is "seriously considering leaving" in the near future. He intends to join another company if he departs. Srouji leads Apple's chip design ...
Intel Inside iPhone Feature

Apple's Return to Intel Rumored to Extend to iPhone

Friday December 5, 2025 10:08 am PST by
Intel is expected to begin supplying some Mac and iPad chips in a few years, and the latest rumor claims the partnership might extend to the iPhone. In a research note with investment firm GF Securities this week, obtained by MacRumors, analyst Jeff Pu said he and his colleagues "now expect" Intel to reach a supply deal with Apple for at least some non-pro iPhone chips starting in 2028....
google pixel 10

Switching Between iPhone and Android Will Get Easier With New Apple and Google Collaboration

Monday December 8, 2025 11:10 am PST by
Apple and Google are teaming up to make it easier for users to switch between iPhone and Android smartphones, according to 9to5Google. There is a new Android Canary build available today that simplifies data transfer between two smartphones, and Apple is going to implement the functionality in an upcoming iOS 26 beta. Apple already has a Move to iOS app for transferring data from an Android...

Top Rated Comments

wilhelmer Avatar
128 months ago
Let's hope we can trust that AAA ranking more than AAA bond credit ratings ;)
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Popeye206 Avatar
128 months ago
Does Alphabet really use the Google logo? That just seems weird.
Is it just me or is the name "Alphabet" a stupid name? They should have left it Google.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Surf Donkey Avatar
128 months ago
Oh wow, all these corporations are just so admirable /s. Wtf, sitting on mountains of cash, tax evasion, manufacturing outside the US. What again is so admirable??

To create the 54 industry lists, Korn Ferry Hay Group asked executives, directors, and analysts to rate companies in their own industry on nine criteria, from investment value to social responsibility.
No breakdown of these criteria makes the dump ranking a bit stupid. Of course executives, directors and analysts care sooo much about social responsibility.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AppleScruff1 Avatar
128 months ago
Admired by whom exactly? I can see Apple but Berkshire Hathaway?
You can't see the forest for the Apple trees.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DUCKofD3ATH Avatar
128 months ago
Does Alphabet really use the Google logo? That just seems weird.
Naw. They have a logo for Alphabet that looks as forgettable as the name it represents.

Google's never had a strong grip on design. Funny that, given how they only hire the best and brightest (or so they say).
[doublepost=1455898913][/doublepost]
Disney is the last company anyone should admire:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/04/us/last-task-after-layoff-at-disney-train-foreign-replacements.html
Yeah yeah. Have you used iTunes lately? That's a crime against humanity.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0815 Avatar
128 months ago
And I admire them now even more since they fight for our privacy, where other companies would have just given in (and did in the past)
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)