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Microsoft chief Satya Nadella leads 2025 list of top 100 CEOs; Elon Musk vaults to 6th place from 19th

30 January 2025
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Brand Finance annual Brand Guardianship Index reveals global perceptions of chief executives among analysts, investors, and informed public

  • Musk’s rank improves despite Telsa’s USD15 billion loss in brand value
  • Tencent founder Huateng Ma plummets from first to 24th brand guardian
  • Chanel chief Leena Nair is the top-ranking woman, in 19th place

LONDON, 30 January 2024Tesla CEO Elon Musk is the comeback kid of CEOs, dramatically improving his rank in the Brand Guardianship Index despite Tesla losing USD15 billion in brand value. Brand Finance, the world's leading brand valuation consultancy, releases an annual ranking of the world’s top CEOs based on the perceptions of analysts, investors, and informed public. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, is the top ranked CEO, and delivers the tech giant 26% brand growth per year on average.

Huateng Ma, CEO of Tencent, dropped the furthest down the list, from first in 2024 to 24th in 2025, despite WeChat remaining the world’s strongest brand for the second year, with a Brand Strength Index score of 95.2 out of 100 and an AAA+ brand strength rating. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang is third ranked, unsurprising given that the AI giant broke into the top 10 most valuable brands in the world for 2025 after surging 98% to USD87.9 billion and securing the 9th place spot.

The highest-ranked woman in the 2025 BGI is Chanel CEO Lenna Nair, ranked 19th overall and one of only 7 women in the list of the 100. 2025 is the 7th year Brand Finance has researched and ranked CEOs and every year, the proportion of women in the whole sample as well as top 100 is consistently between 6-8% with limited progress.

Brand Finance data reveals that from 2023 to 2025, twice as many of the CEOs in the Index were appointed externally, as opposed to promoted from within. The data also indicates that externally appointed CEOs are more effective, leading their companies in 25% brand value growth on average, compared to an average 16% brand growth under the leadership of internally appointed CEOs.

Annie Brown, Valuation Director, Brand Finance, commented:

“The rising number of CEOs in the Brand Guardianship Index who are external hires supports a shift to change-driven leadership, an approach that is directly connected to brand value growth. Brands need to be agile and open to change to adapt, survive and grow in a dynamic, unpredictable global marketplace. CEOs increasingly need to make big change happen, but to do so, they need to engage and inspire their people while inspiring meaningful, long-term value creation. Our data indicates an emerging trend that CEOs who are externally appointed have stronger reputations and are more successful, and Brand Finance expects that future BGI research will demonstrate the continuation of that trend.”

In 2025, the top driver of CEO reputation is “Genuinely cares about employees,” indicating a shift toward human-centred leadership. The next key drivers, in decreasing order, are: “Inspires positive change,” “Trustworthy,” “Understands customer needs,” and “Champions sustainability.”

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Media Contacts

Penny Erricker
Senior Communications Executive
Brand Finance

Note to Editors

Every year, leading brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance puts 6,000 of the world's biggest brands to the test, and publishes over 100 reports, ranking brands across all sectors and countries. The Brand Finance Brand Guardianship Index 2025 ranks the world’s top CEOs based on the perceptions of analysts, investors, and informed public

The Brand Finance Brand Guardianship Index 2025 adopts a refreshed, research-driven approach to provide brand guardians with more actionable insights. The updated methodology allows Brand Finance to better diagnose the factors influencing CEO reputations and to identify the relative importance of key attributes by placing greater emphasis on perception-based measures. We have enhanced our balance scorecard, which captures the ability of a CEO to act as the guardian of their company’s brand, a steward of long-term shareholder value, and shape perceptions of sustainability and drivers of reputation.

Data is sourced from Brand Finance proprietary research, including a survey of nearly 5,000 respondents, spanning analysts, journalists, and informed general public, from more than 30 countries. Data is also drawn from Brand Finance brand value rankings.

The full ranking, additional insights, and methodology are available in the Brand Finance Brand Guardianship Index 2025.

About Brand Finance

Brand Finance is the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy. Bridging the gap between marketing and finance, Brand Finance evaluates the strength of brands and quantifies their financial value to help organisations make strategic decisions.

Headquartered in London, Brand Finance operates in over 25 countries. Every year, Brand Finance conducts more than 6,000 brand valuations, supported by original market research, and publishes over 100 reports which rank brands across all sectors and countries.

Brand Finance also operates the Global Brand Equity Monitor, conducting original market research annually on 6,000 brands, surveying more than 175,000 respondents across 41 countries and 31 industry sectors. By combining perceptual data from the Global Brand Equity Monitor with data from its valuation database — the largest brand value database in the world — Brand Finance equips ambitious brand leaders with the data, analytics, and the strategic guidance they need to enhance brand and business value.

In addition to calculating brand value, Brand Finance also determines the relative strength of brands through a balanced scorecard of metrics evaluating marketing investment, stakeholder equity, and business performance, compliant with ISO 20671.

Brand Finance is a regulated accountancy firm and a committed leader in the standardisation of the brand valuation industry. Brand Finance was the first to be certified by independent auditors as compliant with both ISO 10668 and ISO 20671 and has received the official endorsement of the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) in the United States.

Disclaimer

Brand Finance has produced this study with an independent and unbiased analysis. The values derived and opinions presented in this study are based on publicly available information and certain assumptions that Brand Finance used where such data was deficient or unclear. Brand Finance accepts no responsibility and will not be liable if the publicly available information relied upon is subsequently found to be inaccurate. The opinions and financial analysis expressed in the study are not to be construed as providing investment or business advice. Brand Finance does not intend the study to be relied upon for any reason and excludes all liability to any individual, government, or organisation.

The data presented in this study form part of Brand Finance's proprietary database, are provided for the benefit of the media, and are not to be used in part or in full for any commercial or technical purpose without written permission from Brand Finance.

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