Apple is the most admired company in the world for a 17th year in a row

Each year, Fortune makes a list of the most admirable companies in the world, and Apple gets the top spot for 17 years in a row. The complete list consists of 1,500 companies, 1,000 of which are US-based and 500 of them are non-US firms. All companies have at least $10 billion in revenue.

Of all 1,500 companies, Fortune filtered out only the top earners and narrowed down the list to 680. About 3,700 executives, directors and analysts were then asked to rate each company on the list in various categories - investment value, quality of management, social responsibility, etc.

Apple topped the charts once again with the most points in social responsibility, financial soundness, innovation and global competitiveness. The Cupertino-based tech giant is followed by Microsoft and Amazon. The former got up to second place this year with a top spot in the computer software industry, while Amazon dropped one place but still got excellent scores in internet services and retail.

Notably, although in first place, Apple's 8.19 score was lower than last year's 8.65.

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