Liar? Who, me? (Photo: technorati.com)

As it turns out, cheating does not actually pay off in the long run, as one Pennsylvania mom and one disgraced Yahoo executive are finding out today. Former Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson announced today that he would be heading-up the two-year-old shipping service ShopRunner, a slight downgrade from leading one of the world’s largest tech companies.

In May, Yahoo sent Mr. Thompson packing after discovering he lied about his credentials on his resume, where he falsely claimed that he had a computer science degree. Presumably, Mr. Thompson has corrected his resume, though both ShopRunner and Mr. Thompson suspiciously forgot to mention his past at Yahoo when announcing the news.

“During his tenure as PayPal’s President, Scott joined the ShopRunner board of directors, and we got to see firsthand how much value Scott could add to our business,” said ShopRunner’s current CEO and co-founder Mike Golden in a statement.

In the same statement, Mr. Thompson also ignored his most recent employer, instead drawing on his PayPal credentials. “While PayPal and ShopRunner are fundamentally different businesses, there are similarities in each of their success,” he said.

Maybe he just left out his Yahoo career on his resume?

But more importantly, let’s look at Mr. Thompson’s groundbreaking business analysis of PayPal and ShopRunner. How, might you ask, is a billing platform similar to an online shipping service? Well they are, in fact, both customer-oriented companies, similar to almost every business in existence:

“Both companies are focused on building the broadest network of satisfied merchants by providing the value that creates a large and loyal customer community, creating a virtuous circle,” Mr. Thompson said.

Obviously, Mr. Thompson is the most logical choice for heading a “virtuous circle,” given his honorable past and eloquent ability to describe basic business principles. We can only assume that Yahoo is kicking themselves right now for replacing this lovely gem with Marissa Mayer.

Thompson. (Source: Yodel Anecdotal/Yahoo! Inc. via Wikipedia)

Rebel Yahoo shareholder Daniel Loeb's campaign to upend the leadership at Silicon Valley's most troubled old-school Internet company has succeeded. In an exclusive, Kara Swisher reports for AllThingsD that Scott Thompson is gone. Mr. Thompson's fudged resume was a keystone in the crisis that began unfolding in Yahoo's upper echelons a week ago; it appears to have been his undoing. An investigation by Yahoo into the phony computer science credential Mr. Thompson listed in public biographies revealed that the now-outgoing C.E.O. also put the degree on his resume:

[Although] Thompson made a convoluted attempt to explain it all in two awkward employee meetings at the end of last week, in which he blamed a headhunting firm for introducing the mistake when he was being hired for a job at eBay in the mid-2000 timeframe.

That company, Heidrick and Struggles, slapped back with an internal memo noting that Thompson’s claim was not “verifiably not true.” Sources said that Heidrick told Yahoo’s board that it was in possession of a resume submitted by Thompson that he had apparently submitted showing the inaccurate CS degree on it.

Yahoo is probably doubly embarrassed at this point by the way it initially tried to shrug off its head man's nebulous credentials as an "inadvertent error."

AllThingsD reports Mr. Thompson will likely be replaced by  the company's head of global media, Ross Levinsohn.

Scott was also chief information officer of Barclays Global Investors, where he implemented a new strategic technology platform and global infrastructure. In addition, he has worked with Coopers and Lybrand, delivering information technology solutions to leading financial services clients such as Wells Fargo.

Scott received a bachelor’s degree in accounting and computer science from Stonehill College.

As the Associated Press reported today, Mr. Thompson does not actually have a computer science degree. The problem is Yahoo Inc. has reported the C.E.O. as having this credential in filings made with the Securities and Exchange Commission. As the A.P. noted, Daniel Loeb contends this violates Yahoo's code of ethics.

In his letter sent to Yahoo's board on Thursday Mr. Loeb also wrote: "If misrepresentations were made, they would confirm yet again that Yahoo! is in dire need of a complete corporate governance overhaul. As we have asserted repeatedly and forcefully, as Yahoo!'s largest outside shareholder and a voice for our fellow investors, we believe the Yahoo! Board requires fresh, outside perspectives from individuals who have no connection to a failed regime and have the expertise to address the serious challenges facing the Company. "

Yahoo! termed the bit about Mr. Thompson's computer degree as a mistake, but Business Insider's Nicholas Carlson noted Mr. Thompson's "mistake" can be found in more than one online bio, including one used during Mr. Thompson's tenure as PayPal's Chief Technical Officer.  "C.T.O.!" writes Mr. Carlson, "How could that not be relevant that he did, or did not have a degree in computer science?"

Daniel Loeb's letter to Yahoo!'s board is actually a bit more scathing than either the A.P. or Business Insider indicated, as the contrast between Scott Thompson's claim of having a degree in computer science and the offerings available when he went to Stonehill College is rendered a bit more embarrassing by the following:

Furthermore, Stonehill College informed us that it did not begin awarding computer science degrees until 1983 — four years after Mr. Thompson graduated. We inquired whether Mr. Thompson had taken a large number of computer science courses, perhaps allowing him to justify to himself that he had "earned" such a degree. Instead, we learned that during Mr. Thompson's tenure at Stonehill only one such course was even offered – Intro to Computer Science. Presumably, Mr. Thompson took that course.

Ouch.

Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang with sidekicks, and Sidekick (Photo: Megan McCarthy)

A release just went out over the wires: Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang has left the company's board, and all other positions within the company and its overseas properties, "effective today." Mr. Yang stepped down as CEO in 2008 and was replaced by recently-ousted Carol Bartz, who was replaced by Scott "Mustache Man" Thompson earlier this month. 

Mr. Yang's statement, via the release:

"My time at Yahoo!, from its founding to the present, has encompassed some of the most exciting and rewarding experiences of my life. However, the time has come for me to pursue other interests outside of Yahoo! As I leave the company I co-founded nearly 17 years ago, I am enthusiastic about the appointment of Scott Thompson as Chief Executive Officer and his ability, along with the entire Yahoo! leadership team, to guide Yahoo! into an exciting and successful future."

Ms. Bartz's oustre, Yahoo's struggles of late (read: the last five years) and shareholders' enthusiasm upon news of the departure suggest it was more likely the decision was extrinsically motivated. Mr. Yang was widely perceived as an anchor weighing down the company and preventing a sale; now the rest of the board will likely dump Yahoo's Asia assets (which Mr. Yang also notably resigned from, as emphasized by the release) and potentially try to sell the flagship.

Jerry Yang departs Yahoo. Press press release contains what are surely among history's most insincere quotesbit.ly/yTlKD0

— Dan Gillmor (@dangillmor) January 17, 2012