Tony Hsieh facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Tony Hsieh
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Hsieh in 2009
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| Born | December 12, 1973 Urbana, Illinois, U.S.
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| Died | November 27, 2020 (aged 46) Bridgeport, Connecticut, U.S.
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| Education | Harvard University (AB) |
| Occupation | Businessman |
| Years active | 1995–2020 |
| Known for | CEO of Zappos (1999–2020) |
Anthony Hsieh (/ʃeɪ/ shay; December 12, 1973 – November 27, 2020) was an American businessman and investor. He was known for being the CEO of Zappos, an online shoe and clothing company. He led Zappos for 21 years before he retired in August 2020. Before Zappos, Hsieh helped start an internet advertising company called LinkExchange. He sold LinkExchange to Microsoft in 1998.
Contents
Early Life and Education
Tony Hsieh was born in Urbana, Illinois. His parents, Richard and Judy Hsieh, came from Taiwan. They met while studying at the University of Illinois. When Tony was five, his family moved to California. His mother worked as a social worker, and his father was a chemical engineer. Tony had two younger brothers, Andy and Dave. He went to the Branson School.
In 1995, Hsieh finished his studies at Harvard University. He earned a degree in computer science. While at Harvard, he ran a pizza business from his dorm. His best customer, Alfred Lin, later became a top leader at Zappos. After college, Hsieh worked for Oracle Corporation. He left after five months to create LinkExchange.
Career
LinkExchange
In 1996, Hsieh began working on an idea for an advertising network. He teamed up with his college friends Sanjay Mandan and Ali Partovi. They called their company LinkExchange. The idea was that websites could show ads for other sites in the network. In return, their own ads would be shown on other sites.
They launched LinkExchange in March 1996, with Hsieh as the CEO. They found their first customers by sending emails to website owners. The company grew quickly. Within 90 days, LinkExchange had over 20,000 websites using its service. Their ads were shown more than 10 million times. By 1998, LinkExchange had over 400,000 members. It showed 5 million ads every day. In November 1998, Microsoft bought LinkExchange for $265 million. Tony Hsieh received $40 million from this sale.
Venture Frogs
After selling LinkExchange, Tony Hsieh started a new company. He co-founded Venture Frogs with his business partner, Alfred Lin. Venture Frogs was a company that helped new businesses grow. It also invested money in different technology and internet startups. They invested in companies like Ask Jeeves, OpenTable, and Zappos.
Zappos
In 1999, a person named [[Nick Swinmurn had an idea. He wanted to sell shoes online. He talked to Tony Hsieh and Alfred Lin about it. Tony was not sure at first. He almost deleted Swinmurn's message. But Swinmurn explained that selling shoes was a huge business. He noted that 5% of shoes were already sold by mail order. After hearing this, Hsieh and Lin decided to invest in the idea through Venture Frogs.
Two months later, Hsieh became the CEO of Zappos. In 2000, Zappos made $1.6 million in sales. By 2009, its sales reached $1 billion. Hsieh learned how to make customers feel good about buying shoes online. Zappos offered free shipping and free returns. Sometimes customers would order several pairs to try on.
Hsieh believed in his employees. He changed Zappos's structure in 2013. For a while, it became a "holacracy." This meant there were no job titles, and employees could organize themselves. Zappos hired only about 1% of people who applied. The company's name comes from "zapatos," the Spanish word for shoes. Fortune magazine often listed Zappos as one of the best companies to work for. It was known for good salaries and amazing customer service.
Tony Hsieh enjoyed playing poker. He moved Zappos's main office to Henderson, Nevada. Later, it moved to downtown Las Vegas.
On July 22, 2009, Amazon announced it would buy Zappos.com. The deal was worth about $1.2 billion. Tony Hsieh made at least $214 million from this sale. This amount does not include money from his investment firm, Venture Frogs.
On August 24, 2020, Hsieh retired as the CEO of Zappos. He had been in charge for 21 years.
JetSuite
In 2011, Hsieh joined the board of JetSuite. This company offered private jet flights. He led an investment of $7 million into JetSuite. This money helped JetSuite buy two new Embraer Phenom 100 jets. These small jets have two pilots and two engines. They have safety features like large passenger planes. They are also very fuel-efficient.
Real Estate Projects
Downtown Project – Las Vegas
From 2009 until his passing, Tony Hsieh worked on a big project. He wanted to make downtown Las Vegas a better place. The Las Vegas Strip had grown a lot, but downtown had been left behind. Hsieh first planned the Downtown Project for Zappos employees. He wanted them to live and work there. But the project grew much bigger. It became a vision for thousands of tech and other business owners to live and work. One project he funded was The Writer's Block. This was the first independent bookstore in Las Vegas.
Park City, Utah
After he stopped being CEO of Zappos in August 2020, Hsieh bought many properties in Park City, Utah. These properties were worth around $56 million.
Awards
Tony Hsieh was part of the Harvard University team that won a computer programming contest in 1993. It was called the ACM International Collegiate Programming Contest. His team came in first out of 31 teams.
In 2007, Hsieh received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award. This award was for the Northern California region.
Delivering Happiness
Tony Hsieh wrote a book in 2010 called Delivering Happiness. The book was about his experiences as a business owner. Many famous publications wrote about it. These included The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal. The book became a No. 1 best-seller on the New York Times Best Seller List. It stayed on the list for 27 weeks in a row.
Personal Life
Tony Hsieh mainly lived in Downtown Las Vegas. He also had a home in Southern Highlands, Nevada.
Death
On November 18, 2020, Tony Hsieh was hurt in a house fire in New London, Connecticut. Firefighters rescued him. He was taken to Bridgeport Hospital for treatment. He passed away on November 27, 2020. This was two weeks before his 47th birthday. The medical examiner said that Hsieh died from breathing in smoke. His death was ruled an accident.
See also
In Spanish: Tony Hsieh para niños
