Third Point: Demands Yahoo Fire CEO Scott Thompson By Monday

By Poornima Gupta

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Activist hedge fund investor Third Point demanded that internet company Yahoo Inc fire its chief executive, Scott Thompson, by Monday for padding his resume.

The hedge fund's CEO Daniel Loeb, who has been waging a public battle to place his company's nominees on Yahoo's board, also called for the resignation of board member Patti Hart, whom he had accused of claiming false degrees on her resume.

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.

Yahoo spokesmen could not be immediately reached for comment.

Yahoo's board is reviewing the discrepancy in Thompson's educational record -- Yahoo's SEC filings say he has a bachelor's degree in computer science when his degree was in accounting -- after calling it an "inadvertent error."

The resume problem was revealed by Loeb, who issued an ultimatum to Yahoo on Friday demanding it sack Thompson by noon EDT on Monday.

Loeb did not say what actions he would take if the company did not meet his demand.

Third Point wants Yahoo to publicly reveal the process by which Thompson was vetted and disclose all minutes of any board meeting where his candidacy was discussed.

The hedge fund, whose 5.8 percent stake in Yahoo ranks it among the company's largest institutional shareholders, has accused Thompson of deliberately misrepresenting his education.

(Reporting By Poornima Gupta)

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Comments

[parabq]

09:08 AM on 05/05/2012

Why in the world would a board keep a guy on as CEO who would pull a scam on them.
Who knows what else he is willing to do? The company better dump this guy ASAP and get on with saving this company.

[pixieboomergirl]

08:02 AM on 05/05/2012

Like so many others,I prefer aol to yahoo,when you have a problem they will respond and help.I have tried many times to seek the help of yahoo for making changes I didn't ask for,to no avail. However,@ aol responds sometimes within minutes !

[frankc354]

07:17 AM on 05/05/2012

Would you listen to any thing coming from the mouth of some one from a company named 3rd point

[arizonasunny]

01:21 AM on 05/05/2012

I haven't touched anything 'yahoo' for the last 8 years. I don't know many people who do either.

[Michael Dehm]

11:21 AM on 05/05/2012

185M Americas vist Yahoo on a monthly basis. 800M visit Y! globally per month! Y! News is #1 in News category audience over CNN by almost 20M people - Y! Finance is #1 in Bus/Finance category by over 20M over beloved WSJ Difital Network which is made up of 4 websites! Y! Sports is larger in audience than ESPN.com.

Therefore - I'm pretty sure you know a lot of people that frequent Yahoo quite a bit.

[lurkinman]

11:25 AM on 05/05/2012

Agreed. What is that they do that we'd want to?

[Edward Maddalena]

12:22 AM on 05/05/2012

Loeb will probably get his wish and Thompson will be removed from his position as CEO and Chairman of the Board. This will not be because he does not have a degree in Computer Science, but rather because he exaggerated his prowess about his knowledge of computer science. Shame, because to be the chairman of Yahoo, one really doesn't need that much in the way of a knowledge of Computer Science.

http://connectingthecircles.blogspot.com/2012/05/nothing-really-matters-anyone-can-see.html

[Steve68112]

11:19 PM on 05/04/2012

If the claims are true, then Thompson should resign or be fired. However, if not, then the hedge fund should be banned from making public statements regarding any publicly traded companies and Loeb should be charged with whatever they can charge him with for trying to torpedo a company and prevent him from any more greenmail activities.

[becky bradshaw]

09:52 PM on 05/04/2012

Loeb is not an investor, he is a Hedge Fund manager. His job is to "churn" the stock. He makes more from a volatile Yahoo failure than a stable Yahoo success.

Loeb has a long history of prioritizing his personal wealth at the expense of the true investor. He once told, in advance, a company that he intended their ruin. He loudly proclaimed that the Canadian Insurance company, Prem Watsa, should "bend over the hedge funds have something special for you." He then short-traded a well run company into bankruptcy. (http://wallstreetsectorselector.com/2011/03/dan-loeb-%E2%80%9Cprem-watsa-bend-over-the-hedge-funds-have-something-special-for-you%E2%80%9D-2/)

It is important that we not classify Loeb as an investor. This is unfair to the type. Loeb can apparently operate a spreadsheet program (with help from his secretary), but lacks advanced technical skills. You would not trust him to change the oil in your car, or build a water-tight dog house. In short, he is a typical Wall Street Mega-Ego.

[word2thenooch]

08:39 PM on 05/04/2012

stupid

[rfb112]

07:38 PM on 05/04/2012

I do not believe that this hedge fund leadership has the best interests of Yahoo in mind. Given the chance they are likely to run it into the ground to satisfy their own greed.

[Tymetoplay]

06:59 PM on 05/04/2012

Yahoo is AWFUL these days. I get at least 75-100 spam that they NEVER catch. I've contacted them over and over again and NOTHING. So, forgive me, but when I hear a negative about them, I rejoice.

[Usman Ismail]

12:23 PM on 05/06/2012

You still use Yahoo mail? Get gmail, auto-forward your email if you don't want to change email addrsses.

[Alpha4535]

06:30 PM on 05/04/2012

People should be careful about calling Scott Thompson a liar. Yahoo's stock performance stinks, but it stank well before Thompson got there. Third Point has a $$$ agenda and it's just manipulating worker outrage to get what it wants. Don't get pimped by a hedge fund.

In early days "computer science" was often taught first in the accounting or business and finance depts because they were the first ones to actually use and teach computers as part of a college curriculum. Computer guys before then were considered "just machinists," tradesmen or mechanics. Nobody knew what to do with the new "geeks." Schools even debated whether there was such a thing as computers as a science. A person who studied computers as part of his or her accounting degree couldn't get a computer science degree even if they were at the forefront of studying and using them. If the knowledge was real & the degree was not yet available, that's what Yahoo should be looking at -- and not be tricked out by Third Point.

[David Jeffers]

06:18 PM on 05/04/2012

Carol Bartz made money in a bad economy but did not meet projections so they canned her....sometimes that greener grass turns out to be artificial turf....

[Michael Legnon]

06:13 PM on 05/04/2012

Wonder how many of those investors padded something or another. Corporatocracy is way out of hand.

[websailor]

05:44 PM on 05/04/2012

What is the difference what type of degree he has it still 4 years of college

[IMeMine]

07:12 PM on 05/04/2012

The difference is LYING. Have you learned nothing about business since the debacle of 2008?

[Morgan378]

05:36 PM on 05/04/2012

Computer Science vs. Accounting as a CEO? While "inadvertent error" is an obvious lie, it is odd it wasn't checked out since nowadays firms pull credit reports on anyone even under the slightest consideration for employment. I'd rather have a CEO that can balance the books than one that can hook up his own company laptop without the IT department. Not as though Yahoo doesn't have enough educated computer science personnel. (Does Bill Gates have a bachelor's degree in computer science?)

I still wouldn't want the characterless liar working as CEO in any firm I had a large stake in - but this 3rd Point CEO Danny Loeb guy really seems to have a hard-on to: BE REPRESENTED ON THAT BOARD BY DAMN!!

{"The hedge fund's CEO Daniel Loeb, who has been waging a public battle to place his company's nominees on Yahoo's board, also called for the resignation of board member Patti Hart, whom he had accused of claiming false degrees on her resume."} I guess Mr. Loeb has taken quite the interest in the educational background of any and all Yahoo Executives and Board Members. Wonder what's on HIS resume?

[Michael Legnon]

06:16 PM on 05/04/2012

AND...what he did to pad his wallet to the point of accumulating that kind of "clout"....

[IMeMine]

07:14 PM on 05/04/2012

It doesn't matter if Danny Loeb has a hard-on. The facts are the facts. And character DOES MATTER especially when investors have money on the line.