Venture capitalist grew Zappos into an online powerhouse
Tony Hsieh, the technology entrepreneur and venture capitalist who built Zappos into a $1 billion internet shoes and clothing power house, died Friday. He was 46.
The cause was injuries suffered in a house fire Nov. 18 in New London, Conn., according to Megan Fazio, a spokesperson for the Downtown Project in Las Vegas, a revitalization effort that Hsieh oversaw.
Hsieh (pronounced “shay”) was apparently visiting family at the time. His death was confirmed by Zappos in a statement from the company’s chief executive, Kedar Deshpande. Further details were not immediately available.
Hsieh stepped down as chief executive in August after 21 years with the company, which began selling shoes online in 1999.
Having sold his first company, Link Exchange, an online advertising network, to Microsoft in 1998 for $265 million, Hsieh became a venture capitalist and invested in a San Francisco-based retail shoe startup, then called ShoeSite.com. He quickly took over as CEO and focused his efforts on building the company into an internet giant.
Hsieh surprised the Silicon Valley world by moving the company from San Francisco to a suburb of Las Vegas, where he built a culture of “fun and a little weirdness” that resulted in skyrocketing growth. From $1.6 million in sales in 2000, Zappos surpassed $1 billion in revenues by 2009. In July 2009, Hsieh sold the company for $1.2 billion to Amazon.
During his tenure at Zappos, Hsieh launched the Downtown Project, aimed at revitalizing the once-neglected downtown of Las Vegas and turning it into a vibrant area where Zappos employees would live. The area since has attracted thousands of technology workers and entrepreneurs.
Tony Hsieh was born Dec, 12, 1973, in Illinois to Richard and Judy Hsieh, immigrants from Taiwan.
The family moved to California when Tony was 5. The oldest of three boys, he grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Survivors include his parents and his brothers Andy and Dave, Fazio said.