Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson's Resume Is Faked, Third Point Alleges

* Yahoo calls discrepancy an "inadvertent error"

* Third Point also doubts board member's educational record

By Poornima Gupta

SAN FRANCISCO, May 3 (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund Third Point on Thursday accused Yahoo Inc's new chief executive, Scott Thompson, of padding his educational record, and Yahoo called the discrepancy an "inadvertent error."

Thompson claims to hold a bachelor's degree in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College near Boston but he "embellished his academic credentials," as the CEO's degree is in accounting only, Third Point's founder and chief executive, Dan Loeb, wrote in a letter to Yahoo's board on Thursday.

"Stonehill College informed us that it did not begin awarding computer science degrees until 1983 - four years after Mr. Thompson graduated," Loeb said. Third Point is a large Yahoo investor that has publicly battled the Internet company's board in the past.

A Yahoo spokesman called the discrepancy an "inadvertent error."

"Scott Thompson received a bachelor of science degree in business administration with a major in accounting from Stonehill college," the spokesman said in an emailed statement. "There was an inadvertent error that stated Mr. Thompson also holds a degree in computer science."

Yahoo reiterated its confidence in its CEO, saying he is a "highly qualified executive with a successful track record leading large consumer technology companies."

The letter represents the latest salvo from Third Point, whose 5.8 percent stake in Yahoo ranks it among the company's largest institutional shareholders. Third Point has sharply criticized Yahoo's performance and strategy in the past.

Yahoo, whose revenue slid by more than a fifth last year, brought in Thompson, PayPal's former president, as chief executive in January, five months after Carol Bartz was fired.

Loeb also accused board member Patti Hart, who chaired the CEO search committee, of embellishing her educational record.

Various corporate filings state that Hart holds a bachelor's degree in marketing and economics from Illinois State University but her degree is in business administration, Loeb said.

A Yahoo spokesman responded: "We can confirm that Patti Hart holds a bachelor of science degree in business administration with specialties in marketing and economics from Illinois State University."

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Comments

[Dolores de Cabeza]

06:36 PM on 05/08/2012

I wonder where the writer of this article got their degree... CORRECT USE OF COMMAS was definitely not part of the program.

[Sral Rolyat]

02:48 AM on 05/08/2012

@ RobertSF: Your response Irks me. You essentially refer to the top public university in the world (U.C. Berkeley) as a "Blank State University" because they award general degrees with concentrations.

You claim an International Relations degree from a "toney private college" is different than a Political Science degree with a concentration in International Relations from Berkeley.

You are right, the International Relations degree from Berkeley is very likely a much better and more rigorous degree. Cal has the second best political science department in the world.

Saying you have an International Relations degree from Cal is not like putting a hood ornament on a Honda. It is like putting a coat of wax on a Ferrari.

[nicktoday]

03:40 PM on 05/07/2012

The Yahoo CEO lied again, this one is much worse! http://www.omdoubleg.com/entertainment/yahoo-ceo-scott-thompson-caught-in-other-lies/

[asdas1234]

10:14 AM on 05/07/2012

This is just like that Jeff Pappows guy who has lied his way through his entire career and got let go by Lotus.. What a glitch that guy is.

[Frank Scribe]

01:43 PM on 05/06/2012

I know of a man whom I greatly suspect does not have a degree but is holding a very senior position at a MIT affiliated institute. He holds that position on the pretext that he holds a PhD in chemistry, however, his knowledge of basic chemistry is highly questionable! The greater misfortune is that taxpayers money to the tune of hundreds of millions through the NIH are being used to keep this man in a job.

[Frank Scribe]

01:36 PM on 05/06/2012

What is it about these people who lie about their credentials so easily? Or, is it about our systems? Would a Black man have as much luck with the vetting process? Can someone tell of a case where a Black man was found to have benefited to the degree as Scott Thompson or Marilee Jones enjoyed from padding their resumes? Marilee Jones was that woman who kept a large number of qualified people from studying at MIT, as she advanced to become Dean of Admissions, without herself having a degree!

[reno computer repairs]

11:29 PM on 05/05/2012

Hmmmm oops...like he did not know he lied on his resume!!!!www.itmasterservices.com

[Azterix]

10:56 PM on 05/05/2012

Romney knows best ... He said, in his book, that lying and cheating were tools for his success. Look at his campaign approach ... Etch-A-Sketch speaks volume.

[arthur99]

09:10 PM on 05/05/2012

if I made a 'mistake' like this applying for a job I'd be fired
but they get my transcripts

[jbad]

12:40 PM on 05/05/2012

I'm not sure but maybe it is lying that makes this person a good CEO. He can lie about his resume, lie about how good the company is doing and, if the POTUS posts him/her to an administrative position, lie about how good the country is doing. But noooooo, Third Point is a party pooper and has exposed this liar as well as Patti Hart. We know liars stay in packs and support one another.

[viciousvirago]

11:55 AM on 05/05/2012

In the old days, nearly everyone padded their resume. Not today. You've got to prove everything said on our resume and woe betide the person who gets caught. BUT the higher you are in the company hierarchy, the less chances you will be fired.

[Larry Waters]

06:00 AM on 05/05/2012

If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything - Mark Twain

[artistdavid]

10:32 PM on 05/04/2012

ARE ALL YAHOO CEO LIARS?

[Dale Ruff]

09:48 PM on 05/04/2012

When I taught for San Jose School District, the very competent and well-liked Superintendent had stated in his resume that he had an advanced degree from Stanford. Years after he took his position, someone checked it out and it was a lie. Since his income was based on his degrees, he was convicted of fraud and theft and was sent to prison.

"Inadvertent error" is an Orwellian euphemism for lie. Do "competent people" have the right to lie and get away with it? If a lower level worker at Yahoo were found to have lied on his resume, would it be dismissed as "inadvertent error" or would he be fired or otherwise punished? How many people lie on resumes? If you get a job at a certain salary based on your resume, are you committing fraud and theft? Yahoo needs to deal with these questions or risk justifying and/or encouraging dishonesty and cynicism among its workforce.

At 71, I have four advanced degrees but am working packing boxes for an online business.
This is the new reality.

[Norge]

05:43 AM on 05/05/2012

Dale Ruff
As I comented earlier, "pumping up resumes is as old as the making of stone tools."

Of course it is blantant lying to try to enhance ones' abilities to ones' piers. If one is hired
with such then the employee has not fullfilled the contract and of course can be found to be redundant.
Pumped resumes can always be checked and you can be sure there are thousands sitting in jobs and have been for years with pumped resumes which no one has checked
because when they sat in their interviews they seemed so honest, so smiling, so reasuring, so confident, so self assured that the interviers were charmed by the social engineers and perhaps sociopaths who have honed abilities at charming. And I suspect
such exists all through the system from civil servants, corporate jobs and construction employees. Though those who are required to do actual physical carpendry, for example have a much more difficult time hiding their incompetence.
Norge

[ravencalling]

12:39 PM on 05/05/2012

Fanned, for your remark regarding the encouragement of dishonesty and cynicism in the workforce that in most cases needs no encouragement. People work hard and spend hard earned money or go into outrageous debt for their degrees. Often times, they are never given the opportunity to apply what they have learned. The worst slap in the face is when you are expected to be highly skilled at what you do, yet your management is clearly on the empty suit spectrum. Its not just the degree. It is what you sacrificed to obtain that degree, because you put that much value into learning and improving yourself. I would not/could not work for someone who under-values that so much that they would lie about it.

[Dale Ruff]

01:12 PM on 05/05/2012

raencalling.....you would not make a good wage slave! The poster who wants trained workers without all that education crap wants slaves, not free human beings, to work for him.

I see this whole issue as part of the attack on education, which justifies policies which make college unaffordable for poor and working class students. You can't afford college: well, it's a waste of time anyway!

Education increases choices; a 17 year old has a limited idea of what choices are available. Increased choice is the keystone of free human beings. Many employers do not want free human beings but trained slaves. God forbid your employees would be familiar with the history of unions and the struggles for the 8 hr day, safety and health
laws, and prohibitions against child labor! In fact, folks like Bachman and Gingrich want to put kids to work. Gingrich wants to fire their parents (janitors) and hire the kids to do the work (ps, as a former janitor, it is hard work involving dangerous chemicals, etc) at low wages. Cheap labor: children and people in slave labor nations. Who needs education?

[Stephen Hines]

09:32 PM on 05/04/2012

He lied. It's very simple.