Yahoo’s ‘disgraced’ chief executive Scott Thompson has cancer

Yahoo chief executive Scott Thompson, who stepped down after just four months at the helm of the internet company amid allegations he had embellished his academic record, has been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, it was claimed yesterday.

Reports said Thompson told Yahoo’s board and several colleagues about his condition before resigning.

Ross Levinsohn, who oversees the web giant’s content and advertising services, is taking over as interim chief executive.

The company is also handing three board seats to activist hedge fund Third Point, which claimed Thompson, who holds an accounting degree, had exaggerated his CV with a degree in computer science. Third Point, headed by Dan Loeb, is one of Yahoo’s largest shareholders with a 5.8 per cent stake.

Five Yahoo directors who had planned to leave later this year will now leave immediately, while Loeb and two of Third Point’s nominees will join the group’s board. This ends a potentially disruptive battle with Loeb, who was campaigning to gain four seats on the board.

GC analyst Colin Gillis said: “This is a big victory for Third Point. It strengthens their argument that this board was dysfunctional, and it’s going to increase Third Point’s ability to shape the direction of the company.”

Thompson, previously head of eBay’s PayPal, arrived in January and promptly announced plans to axe 14 per cent of the workforce – about 2,000 staff.

Although Yahoo remains one of the internet’s most-visited websites, the company has suffered in the face of competition from Google and Facebook.