Now that activist shareholder Dan Loeb has discredited Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson’s educational credentials and credibility, he’s going full bore after the company’s directors and demanding Thompson’s head.
In a new letter to Yahoo’s board today, Loeb and his shareholder firm Third Point called for the company to disclose details of Thompson’s vetting process and, more importantly, to reveal whether or not Yahoo directors knew of the holes in his academic background. They also demanded that Yahoo fire Thompson and director Patti Hart, about whose academic background questions have also been raised.
And, arguing that “irreparable damage” to Yahoo’s culture will continue every day that the board allows Thompson and Hart to remain at the company, Loeb called for Yahoo to oust both of them.
“Permitting Mr. Thompson and Ms. Hart to stay with the Company after apparently violating the Code of Ethics sends a message to all Yahoo! employees that a different set of rules applies at the top,” Loeb wrote. “[Yahoo must] terminate Mr. Thompson for cause immediately given his demonstrable unsuitability to remain Chief Executive Officer and a director of Yahoo! and accept the resignation of Ms. Hart for similar reasons.”
