Ogoniok (Moscow) - December 8, 2008

Gostiny Dvor hosted The Company of the Year 2008 awards ceremony on December 2, recognizing 44 companies - leaders in their respective spheres. The 10th ceremony was organized by RBC.

The ceremony to present awards to the leading Russian companies has long been one of the most prominent venues marking the end of the year. Representatives of the leading Russian companies, government authorities, famous public officials and politicians, as well as figures of science and culture, attended the 10th ceremony in order to congratulate the winners, chat in a relaxed informal atmosphere and discuss future plans. Among the guests were Pavel Teplukhin, David Yakobashvili, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, Magomed Musayev, Andrei Khazin, Valery Okulov, Pavel Borodin, Henry Reznik, Olga Pleshakova, Mikhail Barshchevsky, Ella Panfilova, Vladimir Makarov, Yelena Yarmak, Vladimir Tkachev, Vladimir Medinsky, and Alexei Nemov, to name just a few.

The evening kicked off with an informal welcome party. Guests enjoyed relaxing music played by the Muzz-band and the performance of young and promising singer Kseniya Orlova. The hall was decorated with huge quality marks featuring logos of the leading Russian companies. "The awards ceremony is celebrating its 10th anniversary today," said RBC General Director Yury Rovensky. "Over the last decade, Russian businesses have accumulated great potential. The companies have much to be proud of. The crisis may come and go, but the people stay. Therefore, today's main task is keeping those people who know how to work and demonstrate great performance even despite all the difficulties."