Scott Thompson gets new CEO gig
His time in the corner office at Yahoo was brief, undone by a scandal over his resume. Now Thompson is getting a fresh shot, this time at e-commerce company ShopRunner.
- 30 years experience at tech and consumer publications, print and online. Five years in the US Army as a translator (German and Polish).
Scott Thompson, who left Yahoo under a cloud, has landed a CEO post once again.
Two-year-old e-commerce company ShopRunner this morning announced that Thompson is coming aboard as its chief executive. ShopRunner describes itself as a network of merchants that have banded together to deliver "multichannel shopping services" to consumers.
In May, an embattled Thompson abruptly departed Yahoo after hedge fund and Yahoo investor group Third Point discovered that his resume listed a computer science degree that he doesn't actually hold. Thompson had been CEO of Yahoo only since January.
The appointment at ShopRunner brings Thompson back closer to his e-commerce roots. Before joining Yahoo, he served as president of eBay-owned payments service PayPal.
"During his tenure as PayPal's President, Scott joined the ShopRunner board of directors and we got to see firsthand how much value Scott could add to our business. Michael [Rubin, CEO of Kynetic, a majority shareholder of ShopRunner] and I both felt he would be the perfect long-term CEO," ShopRunner's co-founder and current CEO, Mike Golden, said in a statement. Golden will stay on with the company in the role of president.
ShopRunner says Thompson is the right man to lead it through a growth phase:
In its next evolution, ShopRunner will be expanding its offerings, both in its breadth of participating merchants, and its benefits to members, including PayRunner, a two-click checkout experience that makes it fast and convenient for ShopRunner members to purchase, and ShopRunner PickupPoints - a service that gives members the option to have packages delivered to thousands of convenient retail store locations. With Thompson at its helm, ShopRunner is positioned to facilitate billions of dollars of commerce, online and offline.
Yahoo last week made some leadership news of its own, appointing Google hot shot Marissa Mayer as its full-time CEO and replacement for Thompson, following a short interim CEO stint for Ross Levinsohn.