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Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson is only four months into his big job running one of the world's largest tech companies, and he's already found himself in a scandal—and it's a sort of funny scandal at that.
On Thursday morning, activist shareholder Dan Loeb of Third Point wrote a letter to Yahoo's board alleging Thompson has falsely claimed to have a computer science degree from Stonehill College. The allegation is half-true, Yahoo told AllThingsD's Kara Swisher after news of the letter broke. Thompson did go to Stonehill College from 1975 to 1979, however contrary to Yahoo's April filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, he did not actually major in computer science. He majored in accounting. In fact, Stonehill College didn't even offer a computer science major when Thompson graduated -- in fact, they only offered one computer science class.
Loeb didn't mince words pointing out the gravity of such a breach of trust. "If Mr. Thompson embellished his academic credentials we think that it 1) undermines his credibility as a technology expert and 2) reflects poorly on the character of the CEO who has been tasked with leading Yahoo! at this critical juncture," he wrote. "Now more than ever Yahoo! investors need a trustworthy CEO." And this isn't just a Yahoo issue. When he served as president of eBay's PayPal division, Thompson's bio also claimed a computer science degree.