Yahoo! confirms Thompson departure

Yahoo! Has confirmed that CEO Scott Thompson has stepped down, to be replaced by former media head Ross Levinsohn.

The announcement caps a chaotic period in which Thompson was found to have faked a Computer Science degree on his CV.

The company also announced that Fred Amoroso would be the new chairman of its board.

As was expected, the man who first pointed a finger at Thompson, Daniel Loeb has come up trumps. His company Third Point, now has three board seats to be taken up by Loeb himself, Harry J. Wilson, and Michael J. Wolf.

Yahoo! says that as interim CEO, Levinsohn “will manage the Company’s day-to-day operations with assistance from Yahoo!’s existing senior leadership team”.

Amoroso meanwhile said he was confident the changes would “serve the best interests of our shareholders and further accelerate the substantial advances the Company has made operationally and organizationally since last August”.

Loeb claimed that he and his fellow Third Point board members were willing to “work collaboratively with our fellow directors to foster a culture of leadership dedicated to innovation, excellence in corporate governance, and responsiveness to users, advertisers and partners”.

So, are things about to settle down at the embattled tech giant or is the Yahoo! chief executive seat about to become like the Iron Throne?