Yahoo said late Thursday that its board of directors is looking into a in the new CEO's resume that likely means big trouble not just for Thompson but for the that he's been steering .

"Resume-padding is the most bush-league of the many dissimulations available to ambitious executives," said Hadley Reynolds, an analyst with IDC. "His enemies must be amazed at their luck in unearthing a public misrepresentation issue that calls Scott Thompson's ethical judgment, professional competence, and basic intelligence into question all at once."

The issue, added Reynolds, may be enough to make Thompson's reign at a short one and put an end to his plans for reviving the financially struggling company, that was once an Internet pioneer.

"He can't survive this assault, and the will be left to its own devices once again," he said. "I expect this episode to hasten 's transition to its alternative future, just not the one Scott and the board probably had in mind."

Thompson's resume and the company's regulatory filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission overstated his technology background to include a degree in computer science. The company called it "an inadvertent error."