Looking back to last week you’ll probably remember that shareholder activist, Dan Loeb and his investment firm Third Point was stirring the pot big time over at Yahoo. In fact, Loeb is darn right pissed off about the professional path Yahoo has been taking and he has been demanding a seat on the board for some time now. He has been claiming if he doesn’t get his way, there’s gonna be an ugly proxy battle.
Well, as of Friday, it’s on! Loeb did his homework and has exposed some false credentials over their at Yahoo, most notably coming from CEO Scott Thompson. As we reported on Friday, Thompson’s online bio and a slew of other official documents lay claim to a computer science degree he would have received in the late 70’s. The problem is, he never actually studied computer science (unless you count one class) or received a degree in it.
Yahoo’s official stance is that it was an oversight, or clerical mistake. They took immediate action to change the information as soon as it was pointed out in an official letter to the board of directors at Yahoo. Loeb is demanding the board take action and get a response from Thompson and others involved.
Today, All Things D reports on the climate over at Yahoo in regard to what went down on Friday, and it sounds like Thompson is trying to skirt the issue altogether.
An executive over at Yahoo spoke with All Things D about how things were going over at the firm and how Thompson has handled the allegations.
Here’s what the executive over at Yahoo had to report:
“It was the gorilla in the room and it was awkward in the extreme,”
“He never brought it up, which was even worse.”
CEO Thompson sent a quick memo to employees Friday afternoon expressing a need for them to stay focused on their work and allow the board to conduct an investigation of the events. Take a look:
“I am sure you have seen the reports of questions raised regarding my undergraduate degree. As we said yesterday, the board is reviewing the matter and, upon completion of its review, will make an appropriate disclosure to shareholders. In the meantime, I’m doing what I hope all of you are doing — staying focused on our customers, our shareholders, our team and moving Yahoo! forward, fast.”