Finally the verdict seems to be in as per the whole Yahoo extravaganza; Scott Thompson, the CEO for a mere 4 month interval, ousted for apparently his white lie that has turned a very dark shade of black, Ross Levinsohn, a 48-year-old executive who oversees Yahoo’s global media and advertising services, is taking over as interim CEO.
Thomson has been exposed for lying on his CV and stating he has a degree in Computer Science, when he in fact has not. We definitely agree that lying on your resume should by no means be rewarded nor applauded, yet we believe it does not rate in the grand scheme of things. By principle, a CEO ought to be selected for his talents and abilities to lead and foresee what others cannot, and not solely for ostentatiously lurking in computer labs during college.
This may not be such a surprise though; Thompson apparently has been the recurring target of activist Third Point shareholder, Daniel Loeb, for quite some time now.
Loeb, who owns 5.8 % of Yahoo shares, in an aggressive attempt to obtain board seats, has staged quite the proxy war; running a website called Value Yahoo (which is currently down with a server error) that promotes his views as well as three other board-seeking Yahoo shareholders.
Thompson’s bio lie, which Yahoo initially labeled as an “inadvertent error”, has actually been exposed by Third Point, calling for the CEO to be fired immediately. Loeb’s original desires were to obtain four board seats; well, he ought to be happy with obtaining three and ousting Thomson.
“Yahoo is also near a deal with Third Point’s Daniel S. Loeb to end the hedge fund manager’s proxy fight,” the Times first reported .
“Under the outlines of a proposed settlement, the activist hedge fund manager and two of his director nominees, Michael J. Wolf and Harry Wilson, will be seated on the board.”
To take a step back earlier this year, in January to be more specific, is when Yahoo actually lured Thompson away from eBay’s PayPal in an attempt to end a financial funk that has carried its heavy toll on the company’s stock for years now. Even though, Yahoo remains one the Internet’s most-visited websites, the company’s financial and stock performance has been in agony when compared to rivals such as Google and Facebook. The company’s shortcomings have infuriated investors who have seen Yahoo go through four full-time CEOs in less than five years, without actually delivering on recurring promises to revive its revenue growth.
Yahoo confirmed Thompson’s departure in a press release put out Sunday afternoon.
On Monday, Thomson wrote to all Yahoo employees stating:
“I want you to know how deeply I regret how this issue has affected the company and all of you.”
Let us hope that the new board will be able to increase shareholder value, convert hundreds of millions of Yahoo users into a community and magically establish Yahoo as an actual concrete player in mobile again but most importantly we hope that the new CEO does not merely have sufficient “experience”, better yet hold the characteristics of a true successful leader, one who sets the culture, integrity and transparency to lead Yahoo in the right direction.
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