IBM Brand Value Collapses 19%

The value of the International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE: IBM) brand cratered 19% to $52.5 billion, according to new research. IBM is ranked as the sixth most valuable among all measured for the Interbrand Best Global Brands 2016. Of the 100 brands measured, IBM’s value fell the most.

The failure of IBM’s turnaround continues to smother the business. IBM’s shares are off 17% in the past two years, against a 9% improvement in the S&P 500. IBM’s revenue in 2011 was $106.9 billion. In 2015, the figure fell to $81.7 billion.

IBM continues to promise an improvement in its results. It has placed bets on cloud computing and artificial intelligence products and services. However, there is no evidence that these strategies are working well.

Management’s description of its progress has been particularly cryptic and has lacked hard numbers. When the company released second-quarter earnings, its comments included the following:

“IBM continues to establish itself as the leading cognitive solutions and cloud platform company. In doing so, IBM is pioneering new business opportunities beyond the traditional IT marketplace,” said Ginni Rometty, IBM chairman, president and chief executive officer. “In the second quarter we delivered double-digit revenue growth in our strategic imperatives, driven by innovations in areas such as analytics, security, cloud video services and Watson Health, all powered by the IBM Cloud and differentiated by industry. And we continue to invest for growth with recent breakthroughs in quantum computing, Internet of Things and Blockchain solutions for the IBM Cloud.”

Also:

Second-quarter revenues from the company’s strategic imperatives — cloud, analytics and engagement — increased 12 percent year to year. Cloud revenues (public, private and hybrid) for the quarter increased 30 percent. Cloud revenue over the trailing 12 months was $11.6 billion. The annual run rate for cloud as-a-service revenue — a subset of total cloud revenue — increased to $6.7 billion from $4.5 billion in the second quarter of 2015. Revenues from analytics increased 5 percent (up 4 percent adjusting for currency). Revenues from mobile increased 43 percent and from security

increased 18 percent.

Twelve percent does not seem particularly impressive.

No one should be surprised if the Interbrand brand valuation for IBM year drops again next year.