Google creators named Men of the Year
The Financial Times honors Sergey Brin and Larry Page, citing the company's booming value and effects on Net users.
Sergey Brin and Larry Page, both 32, were picked for the distinction because of the effects their 7-year-old company has had on Internet users in the past 12 months, the global business news outlet said.
Its "soaring stock price" didn't hurt either, the newspaper noted. Google's stock market value has climbed to nearly $130 billion, positioning it close to IBM and outranked only by Intel and Microsoft among its technology industry rivals.
Brin told the Financial Times that he hoped the company's search engine could eventually be used to solve "complex problems in fields such as microbiology."
"I don't think we particularly restrict ourselves or have a 20-year vision or anything like that," he said. "I don't think we're averse to doing something new."
The pair isn't the first from the tech sector to earn end-of-year accolades for 2005. Last week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, were named among Time magazine's annual "Persons of the Year" for their philanthropic efforts related to Africa's HIV-AIDS epidemic and poverty.