HP's Meg Whitman Tech Sector's Wealthiest Woman: Report

New Delhi: Hewlett-Packard's chief executive, Meg Whitman, is the wealthiest woman in the technology sector with a fortune of $1.3 billion (Rs 8,060 crore at 1 dollar = 62 rupees), followed by Facebook's Sheryl Sandberg and Alibaba's Lucy Peng, according to a report by Wealth-X.

The net worth of women on the Wealth-X list lags far behind their male peers in the technology sector, said global wealth intelligence and prospecting firm.

Microsoft founder Bill Gates, for example, has a net worth of around $85.1 billion (Rs 5.27 lakh crore), according to Wealth-X estimates, the 30-year-old Facebook chairman Mark Zuckerberg is worth at least $35 billion (Rs 2.17 lakh crore).

According to the list of five wealthiest women in the technology sector released on Wednesday, Ms Whitman claimed the top spot with a $1.3 billion fortune.

A bulk of Ms Whitman's wealth is derived from profits from the sales of her shares in eBay, a company that she led from 1998 to 2008 during its dramatic expansion, the report said.

Ranking second on the list is Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg, with a net worth of $1.22 billion (Rs 7,564 crore).

Upon joining Facebook in 2008, Ms Sandberg received company stock as part of her compensation plan. Since 2012, she has been selling off her Facebook shares, generating more than $700 million in cash before taxes. However, she still holds $430 million in Facebook stock.

Alibaba co-founder Lucy Peng (also known as Peng Lei) took the third place with a personal fortune of $1.2 billion (Rs 7,440 crore).

Ms Peng, who heads Alibaba's Ant Financial Services Group, became a billionaire in 2014 upon the valuation of the Chinese e-commerce giant prior to its record-setting IPO.

Wang Hsiueh Hong, the co-founder and chairman of HTC, was ranked fourth on the list with a fortune of $890 million (Rs 5,518 crore) dollar.

With a net worth of $410 million (Rs 2,542 crore), Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is ranked fifth in the list. She is also the youngest female tech executive on the Wealth-X list.