Scott Thompson’s job on the line amid uproar over claim of bogus college degree in computer science
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ― Scott Thompson’s reign as Yahoo’s CEO is in jeopardy after just four months on the job because he allowed an inaccuracy about his academic credentials to recur for years.
A major Yahoo shareholder who exposed the fabrication is now leading the charge to oust Thompson for unethical conduct. In a letter Friday, activist hedge fund manager Daniel Loeb demanded that the board of the struggling Internet company fire Thompson by noon EDT Monday or face possible legal action.
“CEO’s have been terminated for less at other companies,” wrote Loeb, who controls a 5.8 percent stake in Yahoo through his hedge fund, Third Point LLC.
Yahoo reiterated Friday that “the board is reviewing this matter and, upon completion of its review, will make an appropriate disclosure to shareholders.”
Thompson’s troubles revolve around an exaggeration about his education at Stonehill College, a small Catholic school near Boston where he was graduated in 1979.
Since announcing Thompson’s hiring in January, Yahoo had included two bachelor’s degrees ― one for accounting and the other for computer science ― on the executive’s biography. The dual degrees appeared on Yahoo’s own website and in an April 27 legal document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
After being confronted Thursday by Loeb, Yahoo confirmed that Thompson received only an accounting degree from Stonehill. Yahoo has since removed all references to Thompson’s education from his bio on its website. The company hadn’t amended its SEC filing with the inaccuracy as of late Friday.
It’s unclear whether the inaccuracy about the computer science originated with Thompson or someone else at Yahoo.
But Thompson’s bio with dual degrees periodically cropped up before he joined Yahoo. He was listed with a computer degree on a website touting his appearance at the Web 2.0 technology conference in 2010 while he was running eBay Inc.’s PayPal payment service. The computer science degree also has appeared in Thompson’s bio in connection with his 2008 appointment to a Silicon Valley startup, Zuora.
EBay listed only Thompson’s accounting degree in its SEC filings while he was working at PayPal.
Even if Thompson didn’t personally write his biography, he almost certainly reviewed the information at some point and should be held accountable for the distortion, said Charles Elson, director of the John L. Weinberg Center for Corporate Governance at the University of Delaware.
Elson believes Yahoo’s board needs to dump Thompson or “it will face questions about its own effectiveness.”
Yahoo blamed an “inadvertent error.” After that excuse was ridiculed on the Internet, Yahoo issued another statement late Thursday about the board’s intent to look into what happened. The company, which is based in Sunnyvale, California, didn’t give a deadline.
The uproar over Thompson’s qualifications and integrity is the latest tempest at beleaguered Yahoo, which has been reeling since it turned down an opportunity to sell itself to Microsoft Corp. for $33 per share four years ago.
The company has been losing ground to rivals Google Inc. and Facebook Inc. ever since, causing its revenue to steadily fall and leaving its stock price below $20 since September 2008, a few months after Microsoft’s final offer. Yahoo’s shares fell 25 cents to close at $15.15 Friday.
