Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson Officially Steps Down [UPDATED]

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Rumors circulated this morning Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson would step down from his position at the company Monday in the wake of a scandal involving his credentials for the position.

Thompson claimed in his resume that he graduated with a degree in accounting and computer science in 1978 from Stonehill College. While the school confirms that Thompson does in fact have a degree in accounting, the school did not offer a computer science degree until 1983 -- five years after Thompson graduated.

Thompson, who was previously the president of PayPal, became CEO of Yahoo on January 4.

The error was originally discovered by Dan Loeb, an activist investor in Yahoo. Loeb also discovered Director Patti Hart misrepresented her degree from Illinois State University as one in marketing and economics, though she actually got a degree in business administration.

According to All Things D, Yahoo will say publicly Thompson is leaving the company for "personal reasons," however, those reasons are almost certainly tied to the recent resume debacle. Thompson, on the other hand, will cite a recently discovered illness as his reason for departure.

Last week he attempted to explain the error, blaming a headhunting firm for adding the error to his resume when he was hired for a job at eBay in the mid-2000 time frame. That firm responded to the accusation, offering Yahoo a copy of a resume Thompson had reportedly submitted to them with the fake degree on it.

Thompson's handling of the error –- rather than the error itself -- is reportedly what has led Yahoo to make the decision for his removal. Thompson originally called the mistake an “inadvertent error” and apologized for the "distraction" it caused rather than the mistake itself.

Many staffers, engineers, and top-level execs at Yahoo have called for his dismissal.