The Company of the Year 2004 national prize awards ceremony, rewarding those in the business sphere, took place in Moscow on December 8. Among the famous politicians and public figures participating in the ceremony were former head of the Central Bank Viktor Gerashchenko, chief of the President's expert department Arkady Dvorkovich, lawyer Mikhail Barshchevsky, deputy Sergey Baburin, head of the presidential council on human rights Ella Pamfilova, and many others. The contest was held with the support of the Russian Economic Development and Trade Ministry, and the Commerce and Industry Chamber, whose leaders German Gref and Yevgeny Primakov personally congratulated the winners.

The winners were chosen by the contest's expert board, consisting of influential business and government authority representatives, as well as public figures. This year the board numbered more than 70 people, including Nobel Prize winner, physicist Vitaly Ginzburg, Russian agriculture minister Alexey Gordeyev, President of the Russian Television Academy Vladimir Pozner, chairman of the supervisory board of Renaissance Capital Alexander Shokhin, and others. The contest was split into three main categories: Finances, Industry and Services, as well as additional special categories. According to the ceremony's participants, the Company of the Year award proves that public organizations and state authorities are paying serious attention to business.