Google is the world's most valuable brand.

The FT reported this week that Google is now worth $66.4 billion, ahead of GE, Microsoft and Coca-Cola.

The speed of the company's ascent has been astounding: the domain name google.com was only registered in 1997. Google's ranking jumped to the top spot from No. 7 a year ago, based on a 77 percent increase in the value of its brand. By contrast, Microsoft, which led the survey in 2006, tumbled because of an 11 percent drop in the perceived value of its brand.

The other top brands were as follows:

1. Google ... $66.4 billion
2. GE ... $61.9 billion
3. Microsoft ... $55 billion
4. Coca-Cola ... $44.1 billion
5. China Mobile $41.2 billion