Editor’s note: This article was first published in July 2014. All positions, pay and net-worth figures are from 2012-2014. Since then several of the women listed have left their roles, including Ahrendts at Apple (2019), Mayer at Yahoo (2017), Rometty at IBM (2020) and Sandberg at Meta (2022).
Silicon Valley is practically dominated by men. Coding started out with only a tiny percentage of women, but many of these women have shown that when it comes to vision and leadership they have nothing to envy men for: they sit in the top management of many of the most important technology companies and prove their worth year after year. These are the 10 richest women in the tech industry, according to a ranking compiled by Business Insider:
10. Angela Ahrendts, Apple’s senior vice president of retail and online stores.
Angela was CEO of Burberry before joining Apple, and she was Tim Cook’s big bet. Apple has granted her 76 million in shares, and her annual salary is between 2 and 3 million dollars.
9. Amy Hood, chief financial officer of Microsoft.
Before joining Microsoft, Amy Hood worked at Goldman Sachs, and she is said to have played an active part in the acquisitions of Skype and Yammer. Her salary is estimated at around $7.5 million.
8. Renee James, president of Intel.
She immediately became one of the most powerful women in business and technology. Her total compensation in 2012 was $15 million, and it could rise in the coming years. She is considered one of the most competent people in her field and executive role, not only among women but among men and women alike.
7. Susan Wojcicki, CEO of YouTube.
Susan was Google’s 16th employee, back when Google’s office was still a garage rented for $1,700 a month. Before becoming CEO of YouTube, she built her career as Google’s senior vice president of advertising, so even without knowing her annual pay, her fortune must run to several hundred million dollars.
6. Ursula Burns, chair and CEO of Xerox.
Ursula Burns started as an intern at Xerox in 1980, and her hard work and professional skill took her to the top of the company in 2009, making her the first African-American woman to run a Fortune 500 company. Her annual salary is estimated at around $7.5 million.
5. Safra Catz, president and chief financial officer of Oracle.
Safra is Oracle’s number two, a position earned through blood, sweat and tears. In 2013 Catz earned more than $44 million, mostly in stock and stock options, according to the SEC. She reports only to Larry Ellison.
4. Ginni Rometty, CEO of IBM.
Since Ginni became CEO of IBM two years ago, sales have fallen by 5%, although this seems to have affected the hardware industry as a whole. In 2012 her salary was $16 million, and her net worth is estimated at a little under $1 billion.
3. Marissa Mayer, CEO of Yahoo.
Probably one of the most influential women in the tech world, whose professional success was well proven during her time at Google, where she worked hard on Google News, Gmail and Google Maps, and who is now trying to do exactly the same at Yahoo. Mayer also sits on the board of Wal-Mart, and her net worth is estimated at about $300 million.
2. Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook.
Sheryl oversees marketing, human resources and sales at the giant. She has also managed to publish a bestseller about women at work and the drive to lead. Her fortune is estimated at more than $1 billion.
1. Meg Whitman, CEO of HP.
Meg made her fortune at eBay before becoming chief executive of HP. She tops the list of the richest women in tech with a net worth of $1.9 billion. Almost all of her fortune is invested in eBay shares, so this woman is clearly betting on the company’s future. She tried to become governor of California in 2010, but lost.
Featured image: Erik (HASH) Hersman, CC BY 2.0, via Flickr.
