Scott Thompson resigns as Yahoo! CEO
Founded in 1994, Yahoo has struggled in recent years to keep pace with online advertising market rivals like Google Inc. and Facebook Inc.
Scott Thompson, the chief executive of struggling Internet giant Yahoo!, has stepped down, amid accusations that a bogus computer science degree was included on his resume.
Thompson has been replaced by the California-based firm’s global media head, Ross Levinsohn, the BBC reports. Yahoo! is also reportedly close to settling with shareholder Daniel Loeb, who first highlighted discrepancies in Thompson’s resume, and is expected to appoint a new chairman and new directors following Thompson’s departure.
All Things D, a technology blog that is part of the Wall Street Journal, reported earlier Sunday that Yahoo! was gearing up to say that Thompson would leave "for personal reasons.” The company’s board was due to meet Sunday to discuss the findings of a special committee established earlier this month to review the scandal, according to The Guardian.
Yahoo! Director Patti Hart, who was on the three-person committee responsible for Thompson’s hiring, is also leaving the board, citing responsibilities as CEO of slot-machine maker International Game Technology, Bloomberg Businessweek reports.
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The fiasco erupted at the beginning of May when activist investor Loeb, whose hedge fund ThirdPoint holds 5.8% of Yahoo’s shares, revealed that Thompson only holds an accounting degree, and not degrees in both accounting and computer science as official Yahoo biographies and filings to the US Securities and Exchange Commission indicate.
Thompson was previously president of online payments firm Paypal, and became CEO of Yahoo! in January.
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