Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson Claims He Never Provided A Resume: Source

By Alexei Oreskovic

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Scott Thompson, at the centre of a row over his educational qualifications, told his top executives on Thursday he never provided a resume or incorrect information to Yahoo, a source familiar with the situation said.

Thompson held a meeting with senior staff to address the controversy that erupted a week ago, and has caused turmoil at the struggling Internet company and raised questions about his future as CEO.

Yahoo acknowledged last week that Thompson, the former president of eBay Inc division PayPal, does not have a computer science degree, despite what was stated in his official company biography and in regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Thompson sent an email to Yahoo employees earlier this week apologizing for the controversy, and saying he hoped a Yahoo board review of the matter would be concluded promptly.

In the meeting on Thursday, Thompson gave an account of the facts as he understood them, the source said, and provided executives with an opportunity to ask questions.

Thompson's official biography at Paypal also listed the inaccurate education details, and it was unclear how Yahoo obtained the information on his educational record when it employed him.

Keith Giarman, who heads recruiting of top executives for venture capital and private equity firms at executive search firm DHR International, said high-level executives don't usually directly provide their resume to potential employers,

Typically, he said, a recruiting firm will compile a dossier about their client, which would include the client's resume and the firm's assessment of the candidate, and send it directly to companies.

Yahoo declined to comment on which executive search firm it used during its CEO search. According to past media reports, Yahoo used Heidrick & Struggles for its CEO search, but the firm did not present Thompson as a CEO candidate to Yahoo due to a conflict resulting from its work placing Thompson at PayPal.

Heidrick & Struggles was not immediately available for a comment.

The controversy comes as Yahoo is trying to revive its revenue growth and its popularity with consumers amid fierce competition from Google, Facebook and other online companies.

Since taking the reins, Thompson has moved fast to shake things up at Yahoo, laying off 14 percent of staff last month and filing a patent infringement suit against Facebook.

The discrepancy in his educational background was brought to light by activist hedge fund Third Point, which is Yahoo's largest outside shareholder and is waging a bitter proxy battle to install a slate of four directors on Yahoo's board.

Third Point has called for Thompson to be fired and for Yahoo to let one of its director candidates oversee the search for a new CEO.

Earlier this week, Yahoo's board appointed a special committee to investigate Thompson's background and to review the "facts and circumstances" surrounding his hiring.

Patti Hart, the Yahoo board member who oversaw the search committee that hired Thompson, announced that she would not seek re-election to Yahoo's board, saying she needed to focus on her role as CEO of International Game Technology.

Shares of Yahoo, which finished Thursday's regular trading session at $15.44, were down 4 cents in extended trading.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic with additional reporting by Poornima Gupta; Editing by Andre Grenon and Richard Pullin)

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Comments

[94613]

12:17 PM on 05/14/2012

He got the job because of his looks or the verbal gymnastics associated with a snake oil salesman.
"Who needs a C.V. In the valley anyway." Yes Scott, but you still have to be honest.

[Nic the wonder puppy]

10:24 AM on 05/13/2012

I always deny when I go in the house

[Tom95134]

05:25 PM on 05/12/2012

Recruiting firms tend to pad their client's CV so that they will fit the need of the company and the recruiter will get their exorbitant fees.

[94613]

12:19 PM on 05/14/2012

Thats what all the 2008 Yahoo employees said after Jerry screwed them over by not doing the MS deal.

[JFetch]

03:03 PM on 05/12/2012

Yahoo's leadership is a joke. Of course their CEO is in the middle of a controversy.

[Tom95134]

05:26 PM on 05/12/2012

I can easily believe that the guys resume was something he never saw or supplied to Yahoo!.

[JFetch]

05:31 PM on 05/12/2012

It was the one given to the Federal Trade Commission, and Paypal had the same wrong info. He is responsible for it regardless. How can you not know the company you run has a bad resume twice? It shows at the very least that he doesn't follow up on routine paperwork when getting hired.

[Sky Tripp]

08:46 AM on 05/12/2012

ugggg who cares he was president of pay-pal that is as much sucess as i would ever need and he should half the employees at yahoo and start signing more deals to lease their space and sell off everything other then the search engine!!!

[JFetch]

03:05 PM on 05/12/2012

Lying to the feds is a big no no, and lying on your resume gets you fired in every legitimate company.

[DMSmith]

04:21 AM on 05/12/2012

If in fact he did not provide this information - and it was researched, compiled and supplied by the head hunting firm - then it was not his doing or his lie. We can't know he saw what they provided. This could be a failure of the head hunter compounded by a lack of due diligence on the part of those who hired him.
If this is so - and he were to be fired - it might cost them dearly in a settlement.
Everyone needs to calm down and let it roll out.

[Tom95134]

05:28 PM on 05/12/2012

People at this level often don't supply a resume since their hiring is due to a search by a recruiting firm. Once the Company makes a tentative decision the rest of the process is up to the lawyers to negotiate a personal service contract. Totally outside of the normal hiring process.

[cshae89546]

02:16 AM on 05/12/2012

No resume? Hmm, kinda like barack Obama, but obviously much more sucessful.

[DMSmith]

04:15 AM on 05/12/2012

Obama's resume is well known and not in question by anyone paying even the slightest attention to FACT,
Please check your dosage.

[1ifhtims]

08:00 AM on 05/12/2012

What do you mean by "Please check your dosage"? That was not my comment but I am curious.

[cshae89546]

08:28 AM on 05/12/2012

Not being vetted does not mean it is not questionable, DMSmith . Lets look at the real progress of that Chicago community that Barack Obama "organized" and compare it to the community his million dollar home at 5046 S Greenwood Ave. Chicago, IL 60615 was located in. Then consider what one associate said; "It is clear that the benefit of those years to Mr. Obama dwarfs what he accomplished. He (Obama) built the organization’s following...among needy residents and black ministers, but oN REAL ISSUES, made very little progress and did NOTHING that would change poverty on the South Side of Chicago.” Sounds exactly like what he has done to/for America since being elected in 2008.

[Peace Walker]

02:06 AM on 05/12/2012

Its amazing what people can get away with at that level; different rules....

[michelv]

01:41 AM on 05/12/2012

I highly doubt he made up the CS degree for his Yahoo job. But I bet he did it at some point in his career, and it probably helped him rise to executive positions at VISA and perhaps even helped him to become CTO of PayPal. Just because it didn't help him for the Yahoo job, it doesn't mean he cheated out perhaps other better qualified candidates at his previous jobs. His a crook and he looks like one too.

[lomamonster]

12:56 AM on 05/12/2012

"Trading Places II"...

[victorzeller]

12:25 AM on 05/12/2012

CEOs think they are above it all anyway. Most don't even know what the company makes or how it is made. But once you get that CEO title on your resume you can become a CEO for any company, no matter what you did to destroy the previous company you worked for,

[frank1946]

12:11 AM on 05/12/2012

So he is only a Vanilla grade Liar ?

If so, he would make a great CEO !

[bkooy]

11:23 PM on 05/11/2012

The "Old School" you hired the person and not the paper.
Scott appears to be doing a stellar job and if they would leave him alone he would do fine.
Seems like you need a BS degree to even pump gas.

[JFetch]

03:11 PM on 05/12/2012

If by stellar you mean the company is doing the same since he took over, then yes he's doing a stellar job. The fact that the company has been in the toilet isn't good though.

[Patricia1111]

11:16 PM on 05/11/2012

So he has a high school degree or maybe not. He knew he was doing a con on the company about his education background and probably thought he got away with it.

[94613]

12:22 PM on 05/14/2012

Off course, Yahoo CEO merry go round spins on and on....

[becky bradshaw]

10:25 PM on 05/11/2012

The Yahoo-Third Point is just a power play by Third Point manager Daniel Loeb. Loeb has the reputation of a petulant child in the investment community. He once intentionally sabotaged a Canadian Insurance company over a personal vendetta (http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/03/11/us-hedgefunds-fairfax-loeb-idUSTRE72A4NH20110311).

It is important that people like Loeb be restrained. The investment dollars are not their personal investment that can be used to bully corporations. Loeb is a fraud.