Story Excerpt:
(CNNMoney) — The proxy fight between Yahoo and activist shareholder firm Third Point just got extra nasty. Third Point came out swinging late Thursday with an allegation that Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson lied about his college degree. In a series of published biographical statements stretching back for years — including his bio on Yahoo’s website — Thompson has said that he “holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer science” from Stonehill College.
But his degree is actually only in accounting, a fact Third Point discovered and pointed out in a scathing letter to Yahoo’s board of directors. After the letter was released, Yahoo (YHOO, Fortune 500) sent out a statement saying references to Thompson earning a computer science degree were an “inadvertent error.”
It’s an error Thompson made repeatedly. References to Thompson’s nonexistent computer science degree are featured in his bios on sites for PayPal, the eBay (EBAY, Fortune 500) subsidiary where he previously served as president. Stonehill, a small Roman Catholic college in Massachusetts, also confirmed to CNNMoney that Thompson’s only degree is in accounting.
Yahoo, which quickly stripped all references to Thompson’s degree out of his official bio on Yahoo’s website, said the error “in no way alters that fact that Mr. Thompson is a highly qualified executive with a successful track record leading large consumer technology companies.”
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- Yahoo CEO’s resume boasts degree he never earned, Yahoo calls the fib an ‘inadvertent error’ (thetechblock.com)
- Yahoo confirms misleading info on new CEO’s resume (cbsnews.com)
- Yahoo confirms CEO’s education misstated, will launch probe (mercurynews.com)
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