Tom Cruise no Hollywood ending for Yahoo

Yahoo's decision to invite Tom Cruise to speak today at company headquarters has generated some snide comments among employees, some of which are being aired in the blogosphere. The responses seem to highlight resentment among some in the rank and file toward the general perception that the company is trying to go Hollywood.

Yahoo may have been eclipsed by Google in search, but there are plenty of people on campus who remain proud to work at a company that is one of the true pioneers of the Information Age. The invitation of Cruise--both because of its Tinsletown symbolism and the actor's somewhat-flaky reputation--has embarrassed and distracted some of those workers, who just want the company to stick to its knitting.

Whatever the reasoning behind the Cruise invitation, management may have unwittingly deepened the division between the Silicon Valley and Hollywood camps.

Blog community response:

"Nothing good will come from this save for the hundreds of phonecam photos uploaded within minutes to flickr showing Cruise storming off after being asked: (fill in the blank using comments below.)"
--The Unofficial Yahoo Weblog

"So, some people are expecting it to be a train wreck. Others are annoyed that Yahoo!'s paying someone who seems kind of wacky/preachy/crazy to speak. Me? I expect that it'll be rather tame, rather scripted and perhaps surprisingly fun."
--Big Ideas

"Yahoo works very hard to be the Number 2 engine for searches, and its employees are very proud to work for the company. At least, until the company does something stupid, like inviting Tom Cruise to the office to give a lecture. But the employees maintain their individuality and sense of humor about the whole thing."
--BelchSpeak