Yahoo became embroiled in the résumé flap when activist shareholder Third Point, which holds a 5.8% stake, disputed Thompson's résumé. Third Point CEO Daniel Loeb said the résumé inaccurately claimed Thompson held a degree in computer science, calling into question the Yahoo CEO as well as hiring committee head Patti Hart. Yahoo acknowledged the inaccuracy and bowed to pressure from Third Point to review the matter.
The fallout comes as Third Point had increased demands for Thompson's removal and a board makeover. Under the shake-up, Yahoo has relented to Loeb's demands for placement of Third Point members on the Yahoo board. Third Point board nominees Loeb, Harry Wilson and Michael Wolfwill join Yahoo's board, effective Wednesday.
Non-executive chairman Roy Bostock, along with Hart, VJ Joshi, Arthur Kern, Gary Wilsonand Thompson, all agreed to step down from the board immediately.
"The board believes in the strength of the company's business and assets, and in the opportunities before us," Amoroso said in a statement.
The résumé flap is the latest black eye for Yahoo, which has been under pressure from shareholders to reshape itself amid a withering assault from Google and Facebook.
"It's very damaging, and speaks so negatively to the (vetting process)," says Adam Hanft, an expert in management and brand strategy. "(Thompson) was hired for strategy, branding and marketing — not computer science."
The January hiring of Thompson, the highly successful CEO of eBay's PayPal unit, was Yahoo's latest stab at a turnaround. But his padded credentials raised questions about his integrity and the Internet pioneer's hiring and vetting process.
Thompson's hasty exit complicates a restructuring plan he put into place that includes 2,000 layoffs. It's just the latest in a series of missteps and stumbles in the past few years highlighted by multiple CEOs, executive defections, reorganizations and questions about deals with tech partners Microsoft and Alibaba.
For Levinsohn, it all adds up to inheriting a wayward ship with a reconstituted board and uncertain future. "Who in their right mind would take this job, and this board?" longtime tech analyst Jonathan Yarmis says. "We should have fun and answer that question: 'Who's crazy enough?' "
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