Scott Thompson, who was removed from Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ:YHOO) in May 2012 for misstating his credentials, has been appointed as the new CEO of ShopRunner, a leading shopping network. Thompson is also the former president of PayPal, and he had joined the board of directors at ShopRunner during his tenure at PayPal. Under his leadership, PayPal’s userbase grew from 50 million to 104 million.
ShopRunner, which was launched in 2010, is already growing rapidly and expects Thompson to further boost the growth rate through expansion. The co-founder of ShopRunner, Mike Golden says, “He (Scott Thompson) would be the perfect long-term CEO. We are thrilled that Scott has taken us up on our offer to lead ShopRunner’s continued growth.”
Michael Rubin, a majority shareholder in ShopRunner, thinks that Thompson has a deep understanding of online business, along with exceptional team building and operational skills, which will help ShopRunner realize its full potential.
However, many people think that Thompson’s appointment may pose a risk to ShopRunner, considering his past at Yahoo. He was hired by Yahoo in January to replace the then outgoing CEO Carol Bartz. Soon after, it was found that he had falsified his college records. Thompson claimed in regulatory filings that he had a degree in accounting, along with a degree in computer science from Stonehill College, Massachusetts. However, an announcement by Stonehill College states that he has a degree in accounting only, not in computer science.
Once the word was out, Yahoo issued a press release on May 13, 2012 stating that it had fired Scott Thompson for inaccuracies in his resume. Since then, Ross Levinsohn acted as interim CEO of Yahoo till the company hired former Google executive Marissa Mayer as its new CEO.
Thompson is glad about his new role and thinks that his stint at PayPal makes him the perfect CEO for ShopRunner. He said:
“Joining ShopRunner is a tremendous opportunity to build on the strong foundation that the company has already established.
While PayPal and ShopRunner are fundamentally different businesses, there are similarities in each of their success. 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.”
