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Carly Fiorina, former business executive and Republican presidential candidate, has amassed quite a large bank account. After all, she was the first female executive of a Fortune 500 company. And after announcing her candidacy yesterday on Good Morning America, one of the questions at the forefront of voter discussion is how much Fiorina is worth.
International Business Times estimates that Fiorina’s net worth is somewhere between $30-120 million. Celebrity Net Worth reports that the candidate is worth $80 million. In 2011, Forbes ranked her as #51 on the site’s list of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in the World.
As the head of Hewlett-Packard from 1999-2005, Fiorina negotiated one of the largest tech mergers in history: the $21 billion purchase of Compaq Computers in 2002. At the time, this made HP the largest computer manufacturer in the world. Still, HP continued to fall behind IBM and Dell in the industry. The merger would prove so controversial that Fiorina was forced to resign in 2005, citing disagreements on how to execute HP’s strategy.
“Looking forward, we think we’ll [need a CEO with] hands-on execution,” Patricia Dunn, a board member, said after Fiorina’s departure. Fiorina was given a $21.1 million severance package.
Fiorina is not new to politics. She was an advisor to Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election. In 2010, Fiorina ran for a U.S. Senate seat from California, losing to incumbent Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer.
