Scott Thompson (businessman)
<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>
Scott Thompson | |
---|---|
Scott Thompson greets Yahoos at Sunnyvale HQ, in January 2012.
|
|
Born | Scott Thompson 13 November 1957 Taunton, Massachusetts |
Nationality | United States |
Alma mater | Stonehill College (degree in Accounting) |
Occupation | Business executive |
Board member of | Kabbage Inc,Vertica Systems Inc, Zuora Inc. |
Scott Thompson (born November 13, 1957) is an American businessman, and currently CEO of ShopRunner.[1] Previously, he was Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo!.
Contents
Early life and education
Thompson was born November 13, 1957, in Taunton, Massachusetts, and grew up in nearby Raynham. He was an accounting major from Stonehill College, a private Catholic school in Easton, Massachusetts.[2]
Career
ShopRunner
Thompson joined the online-shopping service ShopRunner as CEO in July 2012.[3]
Yahoo!
In early April 2012, Thompson announced and executed a plan to reduce Yahoo!'s 14,000 employees by 2,000, or 14% of the workforce[4] Several executives left Yahoo! just before the layoffs began.[5][6]
On March 14, 2012, Yahoo! filed a patent lawsuit against Facebook over ten patents.[7][8] Facebook responded with a countersuit.[9][10][11][12]
College degree controversy
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Yahoo! hired Thompson as CEO in January 2012.[13] On May 3, 2012, activist investor Dan Loeb, CEO of Third Point LLC, sent a letter to Yahoo’s Board of Directors and made the contents of the letter public in a press release.[14] The letter cites a Yahoo! SEC filing stating that Thompson "holds a Bachelor's degree in accounting and computer science" from Stonehill College and that Loeb had reason to believe that the degree was "in accounting only". Loeb questioned if Thompson had "embellished his academic credentials" and questioned if the Board had "failed to exercise appropriate diligence and oversight in one of its most fundamental tasks – identifying and hiring the Chief Executive Officer." At one point in the letter, Loeb appears to suggest that Thompson was claiming to have earned a degree in computer science, a more serious charge than embellishing his B.S.B.A. with an unofficial or non-existent minor. However such charges were never proven and the source and timeline of the discrepancy remains unknown.
At least one official Yahoo! biography and the Yahoo!'s filings with the SEC stated that he "holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College". However, the 2008–10 proxy statements of eBay, Thompson's former employer, only noted an accounting degree.[15] Yahoo! initially acknowledged the misstatement as "an inadvertent error",[16] then subsequently began an investigation.[17] Stonehill College responded to press inquiries by stating that Thompson was granted a B.S.B.A. degree in Accounting.
On May 13, 2012, Yahoo! issued a press release stating that Thompson was no longer with the company, and would immediately be replaced on an interim basis by Ross Levinsohn, recently appointed head of Yahoo's new Media group.[18][19][20] Thompson's total compensation for his 130-day tenure with Yahoo! will be at least $7.3 million.[21]
PayPal
Prior to Yahoo!, he worked for eBay subsidiary PayPal as President and, before that, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, where he oversaw information technology, product development, and architecture.[22] During his tenure at PayPal from 2005 to 2012, the business grew significantly and became a tangible component of its parent company's revenues.
Visa
Thompson has also worked as Executive Vice President of Technology Solutions for Inovant,[22] a subsidiary of Visa Inc. that oversees the company's global technology. At Inovant, he was responsible for all development, support, and maintenance of Visa's global payment system. He was also Chief Information Officer at Barclays Global Investors, where he implemented a technology platform and global infrastructure, but was fired for alleged disagreements about strategy.[22] In addition, he worked for Coopers & Lybrand, delivering information technology solutions to leading financial services clients such as Wells Fargo.
Awards
In 2011 Thompson received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for financial services for Northern California.[23]
Cancer diagnosis
In 2012, Thompson was diagnosed with thyroid cancer, which was said to be a reason for leaving Yahoo![24][25] By July 2012 he was given a clean bill of health.[3]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ [1]
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Business positions | ||
---|---|---|
Preceded by
Tim Morse
Acting |
Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo! 2012 |
Succeeded by Ross Levinsohn Acting |
- Articles with hCards
- Articles needing POV-check from May 2012
- 1957 births
- American technology chief executives
- American corporate directors
- Directors of Yahoo!
- Living people
- PayPal people
- People with cancer
- Résumé frauds and controversies
- Stonehill College alumni
- Yahoo! employees
- EBay employees
- People who fabricated academic degrees
- People from Taunton, Massachusetts