In 2018 when the article was written, Jeff was relatively unknown outside distributed research (ie MapReduce) and Google, and Sanjay probably completely unknown.
And they used this PR for what? This isn't a puff piece. Those guys are the real deal.
It elevates Google itself. “It’s a place where people like Jeff and Sanjay work!” Not saying that was the main motivation for producing the article and definitely not trying to question the protagonists’ achievements.
You could say that about any article that is even slightly positive about anyone that works for Google. It's an absurd premise. It prevents the telling of stories that have good outcomes.
Google is already the most known and respected software company in the world, so I doubt that was the motivation.
It elevates a Google of the past, which may no longer exist.