According to Ocean Tomo’s 2025 Intangible Asset Market Value Study, intangible assets represent ~92% of the value of the companies that represent the S&P 500.
The contrast over time is clear:
1975
intangibles represented 17%
2025
intangibles represented 92%
This is what Ocean Tomo calls an “economic inversion”: value has moved from what can be touched to what can be built, designed, developed, and scaled.
This does not mean physical assets disappeared. It means that what drives valuation today is increasingly linked to assets that are not reflected on the balance sheet in the same way, such as IP, technology, data, and brand.
So, what counts as an intangible asset today?
Not just “IP” in the classic sense, it’s also everything that makes a company defensible.
Examples of intangibles driving value:
- Patents and patent portfolios.
- Trademarks and brand equity.
- Software and code.
- Copyright-protected content.
- Proprietary formulas and know-how.
- Trade secrets.
- Data and databases.
- Licensing structures and contractual rights.
Often, these are developed informally first (through teams, contractors, collaborations, prototypes, and market experimentation) before they are properly structured.
This is where legal risk usually appears, because a company may have created significant value, but still lack clarity on basic issues.
- Who owns the underlying IP?
- Were key developments properly signed?
- Can rights be enforced internationally?
- Could third-party claims affect operations?
This is also why intangible assets are central in investment and M&A. Due diligence, for example, is not only about revenue or market share, but about whether the company can actually control, defend, and monetize what makes it valuable.
Ocean Tomo’s 2025 study reflects something we see constantly in practice:
A company can have strong sales, a solid team, and a great product, and still face major setbacks in a transaction if its intangible assets are not properly structured.
In today’s market, structuring your intangible assets is what makes your value transferable.
