Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson doesn’t need a degree in computer science to know he’s in deep trouble.
Activist investor Dan Loeb sharpened his attack on Yahoo! yesterday, calling on the board to fire Thompson immediately after uncovering embellishments to his résumé.
Loeb’s hedge fund, Third Point, alerted Yahoo!’s board Thursday of inconsistencies in Thompson’s education background. He claimed to have a degree in both accounting and computer science from Stonehill College in Massachusetts when he has only an accounting degree. Stonehill didn’t even have a computer science program when Thompson attended.
Yahoo! admitted Thompson did not have a computer science degree but portrayed the puffed-up résumé as an “inadvertent error” in responding to a scathing letter from Third Point.
The hedge fund, which has a 5.7 percent stake in Yahoo!, has been in attack mode against the company as it tries to win four board seats.
Initially, Loeb drew on the résumé padding to apply pressure to the board but stopped short of demanding Thompson’s dismissal.
Yesterday, however, Loeb stepped up his outrage, calling Yahoo!’s response “insulting to shareholders.” The company has said it will investigate Thompson’s résumé, but Third Point said that was “too little.”
The hedge fund gave Yahoo! until Monday at noon to fire Thompson and accept the resignation of director Patti Hart, who was also found to have inconsistencies in her education history.
Third Point also said it wants the company to immediately accept its slate of board nominees so they can help find the next CEO.
Yahoo! only said yesterday that it was still looking into the matter.
gsloane@nypost.com
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