Tony Hsieh Biography
Tony Hsieh was an American Internet entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the former CEO of Zappos, an online shoe and clothing company. He died on November 27, 2020 due to complications related to injuries sustained in a house fire.
Tony Hsieh Age
He was 46 years old at the time of his death; he was born on December 12, 1973 in Illinois, USA.
Tony Hsieh Education
Hsieh graduated from Harvard University with a degree in computer science.
Tony Hsieh Family
Tony was born to Richard and Judy Hsieh, who immigrated from Taiwan to Illinois. He has two brothers Andy Hsieh and Dave Hsieh.
Tony Hsieh Married
Tony was not married at the time of his death.
Tony Hsieh Gay
Hsieh didn’t talk about his sexual orientation, it is not clear whether he is gay or not.
Tony Hsieh Girlfriend
Tony was rumored to have been dating Rachael Brown, a Zappos employee. She was recruited to the company when it moved from San Francisco to Las Vegas in 2004. According to Zappos website, Brown is one of the “women who’ve changed Zappos history,” saying she was tapped by Hsieh to “lead a team to teach all employees the company culture, in addition to answering phones.”
Brown left the training team in 2010 and then oversaw the production of Zappos’ quarterly all-hands meetings.
He is also a prominent cellist who performs with Nina Di Gregorio’s Bella Electric Strings ensemble and with David Perrico’s Pop Strings orchestra, which headlined weekends for five years at Cleopatra’s Barge at Caesars Palace before COVID-19 hit.
Tony Hsieh LinkExchange
Hsieh founded LinkExchange, an advertising network – along with his college friend and ex-Oracle employee Sanjay Madan in 1996. This was after he left his first corporate job with Oracle Corporation.
The aim of LinkExchange was to advertise the sites of companies, interested in the company. He landed his first 30 clients, via e-mail and, just within three months, the site displayed ads of 20,000 web-pages. By 1998, the site registered 400,000 members and 5 million ad rotations daily. He sold the company in November 1998 to Microsoft for $265 million.
Tony Hsieh Venture Frogs
Hsieh later founded ‘Venture Frogs’, an incubator and investment firm. The name was originated as a result of a dare one of his friends said she would invest everything, she has got, if they named the company ‘Venture Frogs’ and, thus, accepting the challenge, the company with the same name was born. The company invested in several companies, like AskJeeves, OpenTable, and Zappos.
Tony Hsieh Zappos
Tony served as Zappos CEO for 21 years before retiring in August 2020. He was first approached by Nick Swinmurn, the person with the original idea of Zappos in 1999 with the idea of selling shoes online. At the time he wasn’t interested but when Swinmurn mentioned that footwear business accounted to $40 billion in the US alone, of which 5% was sold by paper mail orders he changed his mind.
Through Venture Frogs he invested $2 million and accepted the position of CEO and started ShoeSite.com. In 2000, the company received additional funding and generated about $1.6 million in revenue, and $8.6 million, in the next year.
In 2007 the company expanded its products, in every sector, like kids, men’s, women shoes, etc after making sales worth $840 million. This was after Sequoia Capital invested $35 million in Zappos in 2004.
In 2009 the company made $1 billion in revenue and in July 2009 the company was acquired by Amazon for $1.2 billion, and Hsieh made about $214 million through this deal.
Tony Hsieh JetSuite
In 2011 Tony joined JetSuite’s board and closed a $7 million investment deal for the ‘very light’ jet project. The investment allowed JetSuite to add two new Embraer Phenom 100 jets which have two pilots, two engines and safety features equivalent to large commercial passenger jets but weigh less than 10,000 pounds and are consequently highly fuel efficient.
Tony Hsieh DTP Companies
In 2009 Tony organized a major re-development and revitalization project for downtown Las Vegas, which has been for the most part left behind compared to the Las Vegas Strip’s growth. Hsieh originally planned the Downtown Project as a place where Zappos.com employees may live and work, but the project has grown beyond that to a vision where thousands of local tech and other entrepreneurs may live and work. Projects funded include The Writer’s Block, the first independent bookseller in Las Vegas.
Tony Hsieh Net worth
He had an estimated net worth of US$ 840 million.
Tony Hsieh House Fire
According to his lawyer, Puoy Premsrirut he “sustained injuries from a house fire” while visiting Connecticut. There are no more details available about the house fire. The house is said to be that of his girlfriend which he had purchased for her in August for $1.3 million .
According to Fox 61, Tony had been visiting with family in New London when he somehow became locked in a storage area of the back of the house, where a fire broke out just before 3:30 am.
The radio transmissions from New London’s emergency personnel indicated a person was barricaded in a room in the residence, at 500 Pequot Avenue.
In a press conference the New London Police said; “Upon arrival on the scene, emergency services personnel observed dark smoke emanating from the back of the residential structure. Individuals at the scene informed emergency personnel that a man, who was later identified as Anthony Hsieh, DOB 12/12/1973, was locked inside a storage area where smoke was coming out at the rear of the residence, and they were unable to get him out. Emergency personnel breached the storage area door, retrieved the victim.
Subsequently, the victim was transported to L+M Hospital for severe injuries he sustained. Following initial treatment at L+M Hospital, Mr. Hsieh was then transported to Bridgeport Hospital’s Burn Center for more extensive medical care.
On Friday, 11/27/2020, Investigators were notified that Mr. Hsieh passed away at Bridgeport Hospital. As of this News Release, this fact-finding investigation is continuing by the New London Fire Marshal’s Office and the New London Police Department’s Investigative Services Division.”
Tony Hsieh Death
Hsieh died on November 27, 2020 after being injured in a house fire. His death was confirmed in an email by Megan Fazio, spokeswoman for Hsieh’s side venture DTP Companies.
“Tony’s kindness and generosity touched the lives of everyone around him, and forever brightened the world. Delivering happiness was always his mantra, so instead of mourning his transition, we ask you to join us in celebrating his life.
On behalf of all DTP Companies employees and staff, we would like to express our deepest condolences to Tony’s family and friends who have all lost Tony as a cherished loved one, visionary and friend. Tony was highly regarded by all of his fellow friends and colleagues in the tight-knit family at DTP Companies, so this heartbreaking tragedy is one that affects many involved.”
Zappos also released a statement on Twitter confirming the death.
It is with very heavy hearts that we are sharing some very sad news, as we have learned that Tony passed away earlier today (11-27-20). The world has lost a tremendous visionary and an incredible human being. We recognize that…https://t.co/RUMNOFrItZ pic.twitter.com/NSAFGW8p4L
— Zappos.com (@Zappos) November 28, 2020
Tony Hsieh Cause of Death
Tony died due to complications related to injuries sustained in a house fire. Puoy Premsrirut, a lawyer for Hsieh, told news outlets that Hsieh had been injured in a house fire while visiting Connecticut.
On November 30, 2020, the OCME certified the manner and cause of his death as being accidental as a result of complications of smoke inhalation.
Tony Hsieh Suicide
Tony’s cause of death had been certified as being accidental.