Ah, Yahoo -- it gives and it gives and it gives, and what does it ask for in return? Only snickering mixed with incredulity. Just when it looked like things couldn't get worse for the Web 1.0 giant that cannot seem to make it in a 2.0 world, the bottom fell further.
It turns out that freshly minted CEO Scott Thompson, who has claimed to have a degree in computer science from Stonehill College since his days at PayPal, doesn't actually have a degree in computer science but rather in accounting. (For the record, I would never consider padding my resume to include a fake degree. No sir, not me.)
[ Yahoo's CEO isn't the only techie caught fibbing, as Cringely details in "Lies, spies, and Wi-Fi: Google fesses up." | For a humorous take on the tech industry's shenanigans, subscribe to Robert X. Cringely's Notes from the Underground newsletter. | Get the latest insight on the tech news that matters from InfoWorld's Tech Watch blog. ]
Yahoo called that small oversight in its vetting process an "inadvertent error," apparently to distinguish it from all the advertent errors it has made lately. Maybe advertising for the position on Craigslist wasn't such a smart idea after all.
Thompson got outed by board member shareholder Dan Loeb, who apparently has had it in for Thompson ever since he was named CEO and will likely be filing a splashy lawsuit demanding every document Yahoo has ever produced with Thompson's name on it.
Gee, a high-tech CEO brought down by a disgruntled investor board member -- where have I heard that before? Oh yeah -- at Yahoo, about a half-dozen times now. That story is familiar to anyone who's followed Yahoo's frankly hilarious history over the last five years. The names of the cast members may change, but the clown suits remain the same.
Now everyone is either calling for Thompson's head or speculating about what Yahoo will do. AllThingsD's Kara Swisher reports that morale at Yahoo is at an all-time low. That's a bit like saying temperatures in Antarctica are at an all-time low. Once you get below minus 40, does it really matter?