Absrtact: Daniel Lebe Dan Loeb, chief executive of Yahoo Radical Investor and hedge fund Third Point, sent a letter to Yahoo's board in Friday asking the board to disclose the audit of the selection of Yahoo Chief executive Scott Thompson Scott Thompson as a potential candidate
Daniel Le Boux Dan Loeb, Yahoo's activist investor, and chief executive of hedge fund Third Point, wrote to Yahoo's board in Friday to ask the board to disclose details of the vetting process for the selection of Yahoo Chief executive Scott Thompson Scott Thompson as a potential candidate , and more importantly, whether Yahoo's board members knowingly know that Thompson's educational background is flawed.
Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson (Tencent Science and technology with map)
In addition, Mr. Loeb has asked Yahoo's board to dismiss Thompson and director Pati Hart (Patti Hart) before next Monday, which is also suspected to be fraudulent.
Here is the full text of Loeb's letter to Yahoo's board:
As owner of 5.8% Yahoo shares, Third Point LLC today sent the following letter to Yahoo's board:
Dear Board of Directors:
Yahoo's initial response yesterday was an insult to shareholders after third point found significant errors in the education curriculum vitae of Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson and director Pati Hart. We assume that these preliminary statements are attributable to Thompson and not to the approval of the board. While we appreciate the board's statement yesterday evening about the launch of an investigation, unfortunately it is too trivial and time-consuming for Yahoo's board and the company itself.
In our view, it is an extremely arrogant attitude to claim the wrong Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents, Web biographies, directors ' liability questionnaires, and resumes (including the resumes offered by hypothetical Thompson to the company when he competes for Yahoo's CEO). Thompson and the board should not be mistaken for one thing, that is, it is not a trivial matter. In other companies, even smaller things can lead to the resignation of the chief executive. "The minimum requirement for a company director is that the nominee should have a reputation for integrity and competence in their personal and professional activities," Yahoo said in a preliminary shareholder proxy on April 27. ”
In addition, Yahoo's response "confirms" that Hart has "expertise" in the field of marketing and economics, rather than proving that she has a degree in these disciplines (and Hart has been asserting his degree in a company document for years), a similar Shang. "Expertise" does not mean that major is major, nor is it equivalent to "minor professional". We don't know what it is, but we do know that, like Thompson, Hart has been falsifying his actual education for years. Again, we hope that the Board will not accept this feeble attempt to justify Hart's hoax.
After clearly proving that Thompson and Hart lacked even a "minimum of directors", they still allowed two people to take control of the company, which would cause irreparable damage to Yahoo in the next few days. Thompson, in particular, may not have the same credibility as all of Yahoo's key engineers, many of whom have a real, rather than a fictional, computer science degree. Also allowing them to remain in the company after Mr Thompson and Hart have clearly violated the code of ethics will send a signal to all Yahoo employees that a completely different set of rules applies to the top.
As Yahoo's biggest external shareholder, Third Point has invested more than 1 billion dollars in the company's capital. Third Point called yesterday that if our allegations were correct, then Yahoo should start investigating immediately. Yahoo's board appears to have accepted the request, but its response must be swift and resolute. In this regard, third point will consider further action on the assumption that the board does not take the following actions before the U.S. Eastern Time, May 7 (evening, May 7, Beijing Time):
1 publicly disclose the review procedure for Thompson as a potential chief executive candidate.
The content of such disclosure shall include all minutes of any meeting for the discussion of the Thompson candidacy, and any reports or other material relating to the Director's response to the assessment of the candidate's candidacy;
2 disclosed whether any board member had known about Thompson's deception before the third point was issued yesterday, including Menade Webb (Maynard Webb), who had long-standing contact with Thompson, and Hart, who was chairman of the selection Committee;
3 to provide shareholders with all information on the nomination process of the directors, including the so-called "skill matrix" in the company's preliminary shareholder's proxy, which is said to be the basis for the Board to determine the qualifications of various candidates, including the candidate nominated by Third Point;
4 immediately terminated Thompson's position on the grounds that he was clearly unfit to continue as Yahoo's chief executive and director, and to accept Hart's resignation on similar grounds.
Finally, we urge the Board not to waste valuable corporate resources, to stop resisting third point nominees entering Yahoo's board. We are ready to join now. Once on board, our first priority is to work with the rest of the board members to find a qualified and honest new leader for Yahoo to lead the company and make best practices for corporate governance. The company has so many "fires" to extinguish that it cannot afford the consequences of continuing this misguided battle with the largest external shareholder. The damage is now too much.
Sincere,
Daniel· S. Loeb
Third Point LLC CEO