Apple (AAPL) At Top of Fortune's 'Most Admired' List

Of the top 50 most-admired companies in the world, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) landed at the top of the list of Fortune magazine. Following closely on the heels of Apple was nemesis Google (NASDAQ:GOOG), which came in at No. 2.

Fortune said about Apple, "The company's blistering pace of new product releases has continued to set the bar high for tech companies across the board."

Following the two tech giants was Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRK-A), Southwest Airlines (NYSE:LUV) and Proctor & Gamble (NYSE:PG), in that order.

Others making the list were Coca Cola (NYSE:KO), in 6th place; Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) in 7th; FedEX (NYSE:FDX) in 8th; Cisco (Nasdaq:CSCO) in 9th. Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) came in at 15th.

The rankings of the companies on the list were measured on innovation, people management, use of corporate assets, social responsibility, quality of management, financial soundness, long-term investment, quality of products/services and global competitiveness.