Merco, a corporate reputation monitor with a 25-year track record, has announced the first edition of Merco Companies and Business Leaders Rankings in Florida, which features Publix as the top ranked company.
According to Merco, its multi-stakeholder evaluation methodology is the only KPMG-verified corporate reputation assessment in the world.
Top 100 companies with the best reputation
The Merco Companies 2025 ranking named the following companies as the top 10 in Florida (ranked from first to 10th): Publix, The Walt Disney Company, Google, Apple, Costco, Amazon, Microsoft Corporation, Chewy, Toyota and Aldi.
Taking a broader view, retail is the best evaluated sector in Florida with Chewy, The Home Depot, Target and Walmart also joining the top 30 most reputable companies (eight in total from the sector).
Florida’s evolution as a top tech hub in the past decade also is evident in the results of the top 100 companies with the best reputation. IBM, Cisco and Meta appear, along with Florida-headquartered companies such as Tech Data, Citrix, UKG, Roper Technologies, Reliaquest and TD Synnex.
In addition, top national firms from the financial sector, including American Express, Raymond James Inc., J.P.Morgan Chase & Co., Capital One and Bank of America, hold positions in the top 30.
Top 50 most influential leaders
The 10 leaders with the best reputation are the following (ranked from first to 10th): Kevin Murphy (Publix), Bob Iger (The Walt Disney Company), Tim Cook (Apple), Bill Gates (Microsoft Corporation), Todd Jones (Publix), Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Elon Musk (Tesla), John Morgan (Morgan & Morgan, P.A.), Jorge Pérez (Related Group) and Jorge González (City National Bank).
“Driving reputation means building trust with different stakeholders to boost business growth,” said Merco CEO Jose Maria San Segundo. “American business leaders understand this well, as it is in the U.S. where the very concept of corporate reputation was developed.”
Merco’s methodology
- Leaders: Interviewing 200 senior leaders from companies with more than $50 million in revenue;
- Experts: Surveying 250 experts, including financial analysts, journalists, government officials, university professors, CSR leaders, NGOs, consumer associations, communication leaders and social media managers;
- General public: Gathering insights from 2,470 consumers in Florida;
- Social media mentions: Analyzing about 640,000 social media mentions of ranked companies in Florida, including owned channels and third-party mentions; and
- Objective indicators: Evaluating more than 200 financial, market, innovation, digital presence and social impact metrics.
See the full rankings here.
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