Yahoo! admits ‘error’ in CEO’s online bio

NEW YORK – Struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! has admitted to making an “inadvertent error” after an activist shareholder pointed out that its CEO’s online bio wrongly said he had a degree in computer science.

Until late Thursday, the company’s website had said Chief Executive Officer Scott Thompson had received a bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Yahoo! later admitted, however, that Thompson had received a bachelor of science degree in business administration with a major in accounting from Stonehill, a Catholic School near Boston.

By early Friday, the website biography did not contain any reference to Thompson’s educational background.

Yahoo! appointed Thompson in January, hoping the former head of online payments site PayPal, a division of eBay, could revive the Internet giant, which has been losing the battle over online ads.

The Journal quoted Yahoo! as saying that the disclosure “in no way alters that fact that Mr. Thompson is a highly qualified executive with a successful track record leading large consumer technology companies.”

The discrepancy was pointed out by the hedge fund Third Point, which owns some six percent of Yahoo! and has been battling the company to obtain board seats, the Journal said.