RadioShack Corp. Chief Executive David Edmondson has acknowledged lying about his academic record, leading the electronics retailer’s board to hire a lawyer to advise it on the matter, according to statements released by the company late on Wednesday.
The questions about Edmondson’s education — and the revelation that he has been involved in several alcohol-related driving incidents — left analysts wondering if he could survive in his position.
Edmondson’s disclosure comes as RadioShack starts a two-day meeting with investors on Thursday to detail plans to get the company back on track. Last month the retailer said it would miss 2005 earnings targets.
RadioShack shares fell 18 cents to $21.09 in early Thursday trade on the New York Stock Exchange.
Edmondson issued a statement on Wednesday admitting that he erroneously said he received a bachelor of science degree, a four-year college degree.
The CEO said he now believes he received a ThG diploma, which is awarded for completing a three-year program in theology. Errors in Edmondson’s resume were first reported earlier this week by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
“I clearly misstated my academic record, and the responsibility for these misstatements is mine alone,” Edmondson said in the statement. “I understand that I cannot now document the ThG diploma.”
Edmondson had said in the past he had received degrees in psychology and theology.
The school he attended — Pacific Coast Baptist College in San Diego — had no record of his graduation and never offered psychology degrees, the newspaper said.
RadioShack’s board said in a separate statement on Wednesday that it will retain counsel “in order to investigate the facts surrounding this matter.”
The move is a reversal for the directors, who on Tuesday said they had given "consideration" to the issues raised by the newspaper and reaffirmed their support for the executive.
Separately, the Star-Telegram also reported that Edmondson was arrested in January 2005 on suspicion of driving while intoxicated, with the case scheduled for trial in April. A previous DWI charge against Edmondson was reduced to a charge of obstruction of a highway and Edmondson received “deferred adjudication probation,” the newspaper said.
Edmondson was acquitted of another DWI charge in 1990, the newspaper said.
A RadioShack spokeswoman declined to comment on the DWI charges.
The resume issues and DWI issues raised speculation about whether Edmondson would survive as RadioShack’s CEO.
“Without a clear explanation for all of these items, it seems unlikely that Edmondson can survive this flap as CEO, irrespective of his business competence and/or contrition —particularly, if the company’s governance code is to mean anything to RadioShack associates and to the public,” Budd Bugatch and Rexford Henderson, analysts at Raymond James, said in a research note.