Google founders pipped in list of people who matter

And the winner is ...

Carl Taylor, vnunet.com 23 Jun 2006

Google founders Sergey Brin and Larry Page were ranked a collective second in a list of 50 People Who Matter compiled by Business 2.0 magazine.

Stealing the number one spot in the list was 'You - The consumer as creator'.

The compilers argued that the collective power of millions of networked consumers has the ability to "continually create and filter new forms of content, anointing the useful, the relevant and the amusing, and rejecting the rest".

Brin and Page earned their place at number two for creating a company that has become a "magnet for like-minded geniuses".

The pair were also rewarded for remaining down to earth. "Success has not really changed the Google guys all that much. They're still Stanford computer geeks to the core," said Business 2.0 magazine.

Rupert Murdoch took fourth place for his savvy purchases of social site MySpace and entertainment network IGN, beaten to the third spot by Qualcomm chief executive Paul Jacobs.

Fifth place was awarded to Apple chief executive Steve Jobs for being "easily the greatest marketer since P T Barnum".

Bill Gates only made it to number 21 in the list, mainly due to his decision to stand down from Microsoft and devote more time to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. His replacement, Ray Ozzie, comfortably takes the number 10 spot.

Making it to the list of 10 People Who Don't Matter were Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and Linux creator Linus Torvalds.

Ballmer was accused of being a lame duck with Gates no longer by his side. Torvalds was no longer deemed relevant because his project has "matured to such an extent that it has largely outgrown its illustrious creator".