Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson to stand down after just FOUR MONTHS following faked degree scandal

Yahoo Inc Chief Executive Scott Thompson is stepping down from his role at the Silicon Valley inteet giant.

It is thought to be the final stage in a controversy over a fake computer science college degree on his biography, although the company if expected to claim he is leaving for ‘personal reasons'.

Thompson will reportedly cite a recently discovered illness as the main cause for his departure, less than six months after taking the role in January.

Prior to the posting he was president of PayPal, the Jose-based eBay subsidiary, taking over from Carol Bartz who was dismissed in September.

Yahoo has said that Thompson did not have a computer science degree, despite what was stated in his official company biography and in regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Thompson's interim replacement will likely be Yahoo's global media head Ross Levinsohn, according to the blog AllThingsD.

The home page of Yahoo, which has been recently rocked by allegations that its CEO inflated his resume

Levinsohn most recently also ran its Americas unit, including its advertising sales.

It was Loeb and Daniel Levinsohn, head of Third Point, which owns 5.8 per cent of the company, who discovered Thompson's misstep and told the world of his phoney degree claim.

Yahoo is in the midst of trying to revive revenue growth and its popularity with consumers, facing fierce competition from Google, Facebook and other online companies.