Tony Hsieh: the 'generous' genius from the US who died at just 46

Image Source: Shutterstock

Tony Hsieh was a renowned American businessman, who made a considerable impact on Zappos after being hired as its CEO. He was known to turn an almost bankrupt firm into a multibillion-dollar empire. Within a decade, he took Zappos to a level that a giant like Amazon came forward to acquire it in 2009.

However, Mr Hsieh is no more in this world. In late November, Mr Hsieh died due to lung complications after a house fire he had witnessed in Connecticut.

Who was Mr Hsieh?

Mr Hsieh was born in Illinois, US, and was the oldest son of two Taiwanese immigrants. After growing up in San Francisco, Mr Hsieh enrolled in Harvard University and acquired a degree in computer science in 1995.

His closest allies often said that Mr Hsieh had inherited empathy from his mother (she was a social worker), and a great talent for solving problems from his father (he was a chemical engineer). The combination served Mr Hsieh extremely well in the business world, as he made billions through his business management.

How did Mr Hsieh enter the business world?

Shortly after graduating from Harvard, Mr Hsieh co-founded LinkExchange, a business whose primary focus was online advertising. After selling LinkExchange to Microsoft for a whopping price of US$265 million in November 1998, Mr Hsieh became a multimillionaire at just 24.

Mr Hsieh became a millionaire at just 24. (Image Source: Shutterstock)

It was not until 1999 when Mr Hsieh stepped in as an advisor and investor at Zappos, which was then known as Shoesite.com. Mr Hsieh soon took over as the CEO of Zappos. Starting from scratches, he completely changed the course of the online retailer.

Mr Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos

Zappos was entirely transformed once Mr Hsieh became the CEO of the firm. In the early 2000s, Zappos was worth single-digit millions. But Mr Hsieh literally changed the company’s fortunes in a decade, and by 2009 Zappos had a valuation of over US$1 billion.

Initially, many people were sceptical about Mr Hsieh’s vision of how Zappos should operate. He did not believe in the business hierarchy and was giving meaningless titles to his employees, such as a zookeeper.

With that approach, Mr Hsieh made sure there were no apparent differences between the most powerful man in the firm and someone who might have worked in the delivery department. His staff recognised his generosity and was always satisfied at work.

The company started offers that looked too good to be delivered, but Mr Hsieh made it a reality. Whenever a consumer would purchase a pair of shoes, he could easily return them within a year.

By being selfless and genuinely caring about his buyers, Mr Hsieh built the online shoe kingdom that Amazon bought for US$1.2 billion in 2009.

Delivering Happiness

After becoming a widely-known businessman, Mr Hsieh wrote a best-selling book named Delivering Happiness. In the book, he explained his vision of a professional environment and how it should look like.

Passion and purpose were some of the principles Mr Hsieh valued more than money. He demonstrated that fact with his life philosophy and philanthropic work everywhere he went.

Addictive personality

However, Mr Hsieh was a troubled man, who had problems with alcohol overconsumption. He was criticised for his habit of taking alcohol with some of his employees at work.

Alcohol addiction did not stop Mr Hsieh from living a successful life, as his family and friends were always there for him. But now after his death, his closest friends believe that aftereffects of the coronavirus pandemic on his work brought Mr Hsieh to his edge.

Even though he did not commit suicide, Mr Hsieh’s behaviour was out of control. He was experimenting with hard drugs while heavily drinking pushed Mr Hsieh to a disturbed state of mind.

During his last months, Mr Hsieh was surrounded by sycophants, who were his yes-men and who, tacitly or actively, approved his habit of alcohol, and that too for a paycheque. His friends sensed something was wrong, and Mr Hsieh sadly died in the upcoming weeks.

According to multiple sources, Mr Hsieh passed away peacefully surrounded by his closest family members. The 46-year-old will be remembered as an individual with a great heart and successful vision, who changed the lives of numerous people for the better.