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Yahoo! CEO! didn't! even! read! his! own! CV!

CompSci degree gaffe dates back to PayPal days

Yahoo! CEO Scott Thompson has said that the fuss over his CV and the computer science degree that never was is totally not his fault - because he never gave the web firm his résumé or told them what qualifications he had.

Thompson is in hot water over a discrepancy in SEC-filed paperwork that stated he held a computing degree when he doesn't. The documents were drawn up and submitted after Yahoo! took him onboard.

According to Thompson, who has apologised for the gaffe, the error stems from an inaccurate biography that was written about him ages ago, back before he landed his previous role at PayPal.

He was interviewed by an executive placement firm for that job at the money-handling website - but it's claimed he didn't mention a computer science degree and that his interviewers put together his résumé on their own and he didn't bother to read it, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

This CV was later used for his online bio at PayPal, and then at Yahoo! and in drawing up paperwork about his appointment as CEO.

Irritated Yahoo! investor Third Point, which first pointed out Thompson actually has an accounting degree, also spotted the inaccuracy on his official bio at PayPal.

It's claimed that Thompson has suggested to his staff that the person who originally interviewed him might have been at a junior level - presumably implying if he or she had been more senior they would have stood over Thompson and made him read his own CV.

And the Yahoo! chief added that when he was asked about his degree in computer science during a chat with National Public Radio in the US, he didn't simply correct them because that would have been a bit awkward. ®

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