According to a recently released study by global brand reputation consultancy Reputation Institute, car manufacturer BMW is the most reputable company, followed by Sony and Walt Disney.

This year Google, which topped the charts in 2010 and 2011, fell to sixth place while Microsoft entered the top ten for the first time.

Apple managed to maintain a high ranking, coming in at fifth place, despite the death of the company’s iconic CEO Steve Jobs on October 5, 2011.

In terms of social media, BMW’s official Facebook page has 10,168,690 ‘likes’ while Sony’s official page (US) has 3,179,320.

The top ten companies with the best global reputations:

1. BMW
2. Sony
3. Walt Disney Company
4. Daimler
5. Apple
6. Google
7. Microsoft
8. Volkswagen
9. Canon
10. LEGO