Yahoo confirmed that it will be searching for its third new CEO in less than a year following the resume scandal of now former CEO Scott Thompson. Thompson was accused of padding his resume with an embellished college degree, stating he had earned a bachelor’s in computer science alongside his accounting degree. In addition, the Wall Street Journal reported that Thompson had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, influencing his decision to step down.
The impropriety in Thompson’s resume was discovered by activist shareholder group Third Point, which represents the largest outside shareholder in Yahoo, with a 5.8 percent stake in the company. Dan Loeb, Third Point’s CEO, has used the scandal as a launching pad for Third Point to gain power positions as board members with Yahoo. A proposal filed in February by Third Point suggested the appointment of four new board members including Loeb. At the time four of Yahoo’s board members had announced their departure, following co-founder Jerry Yang.
In the wake of the scandal with Thompson, Yahoo’s leadership is showing its weakness, and Third Point is looking to take control. According to CNNMoney, three of the group’s proposed members will take seats on the board: Loeb, Harry Wilson, the CEO of corporate restructuring and turnaround firm Maeva, and Michael Wolf, CEO of media consulting company Activate. Once the decisions are made official, the majority of Yahoo’s board of directors will have joined in 2012.
Yahoo has struggled to establish itself in the new decade, having lost the search engine war to Google and Microsoft’s Bing services. The company is in need of a new direction to separate itself from other email providers and news outlets.
