Apple, Google most admired firms

Apple topped the list of most admired companies for the fifth year in a row, based on a Fortune magazine survey released Thursday showing Google as number two and Amazon number three. Google was in second place for the third consecutive year while Amazon moved up from seventh place, giving the tech giants the top three spots in the magazine's survey of 3,855 American executives, directors, and securities analysts. Apple, which is now the largest firm based on market value, ranked first in all of Fortune's "key attributes" in the sector including innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, quality of products and services and global competitiveness. After the top three, the next on the list, in order were Coca-Cola, IBM, FedEx, Berkshire Hathaway, Starbucks, Procter & Gamble and Southwest Airlines. The top non-US firm on the list was Germany's BMW, ranked 14th.