SAN JOSE, Calif. – Yahoo was forced this week to admit its new chief executive claimed a computer science degree he does not have, and said that its board is launching a review of the embarrassing disclosure and will report the findings to shareholders.
The lapse was brought to light by an activist investor.
In the filings with the SEC, the company stated that Scott Thompson has a degree in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College near Boston. The claim was repeated on the company’s website, said Third Point, a New York investment fund run by activist investor Dan Loeb, which owns 8.1 percent of Yahoo’s shares.
On Friday, Third Point demanded that Yahoo fire Thompson.
Yahoo blamed the falsehood about Thompson on an as yet unexplained “inadvertent error.”
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