Former Yahoo chief executive Scott Thompson has cancer The diagnosis was partly responsible for his exit over the weekend from a job he had only held since January, according to US reports. The 54-year old former PayPal executive had spent the last ten days battling to hold onto his job after Third Point, a $9bn (£5.6bn) Wall Street hedge fund and one of Yahoo's largest shareholders, unmasked a discrepancy on Mr Thompson's CV. In a traumatic weekend for the troubled internet company, Mr Thompson left alongside a raft of board directors including long-standing chairman Roy Bostock. The changes are a triumph for Third Point founder Dan Loeb, who has been pushing for change at Yahoo since amassing an almost 6pc stake last autumn. Mr Loeb and two other directors with his backing will now sit on Yahoo's board. Ross Levinsohn, who ran Yahoo's North American business, has been made interim head of the company. However, the changes have so far offered Yahoo's shareholders little clarity on how its fortunes will be revived.