Biggest brands

Q What are the world's biggest brands?

— S.G., Columbus, Indiana

A Different organizations publish rankings of brand values regularly with results that can vary due to different approaches and weightings.

According to Interbrand, one well-respected brand consultancy, these were the Top 10 global brands of 2022 and their values:

• Apple, $482 billion.

• Microsoft, $278 billion.

• Amazon, $275 billion.

• Google, $252 billion.

• Samsung, $88 billion.

• Toyota, $60 billion.

• Coca-Cola, $57.5 billion.

• Mercedes-Benz, $56 billion.

• Disney, $50 billion.

• Nike, $50 billion. It's interesting to see how rankings change over time. In Interbrand's 2022 list, Instagram's brand value of $36.5 billion was up 14% year over year, while Facebook's $34.5 billion value was down 5%. Q If I own 1% of a company's stock and it earns $100 million, do I receive 1% of that — $1 million? — D.E., Erie, Pennsylvania A Not exactly. If you own shares of a public company, you do own a portion of it — typically a very small one, though. (For example, if you own 600 shares of Boeing, that's only a tiny piece of the roughly 600 million shares it recently had outstanding.)

When companies report their earnings, they don't distribute them all immediately to shareholders. Instead, they may spend some to further their growth — by hiring more workers or buying more advertising, perhaps — or to pay down debt, among other options. Many companies will reward shareholders by paying some of their earnings out as dividends or by repurchasing (essentially retiring) some shares, making shares more valuable.

Even if a company reinvests all its earnings in growth, shareholders can profit — because as the business becomes more valuable.