Tony Hsieh
CEO of Zappos known for customer service and company culture
- Lived
- 46 yrs
- 1973 – 2020
- Works listed
- 1
- Book
- Honours
- 0
- Awards & distinctions
- Profile views
- 3
- 0 followers
Tony Hsieh was an American entrepreneur who sold his start-up LinkExchange to Microsoft for $265 million and then led the online shoe retailer Zappos, which Amazon bought in 2009. He was famous for focusing on customer service and company culture. He died in 2020.
Biography
LinkExchange
Hsieh was born to Taiwanese parents and studied computer science at Harvard. In 1996 he co-founded LinkExchange, an advertising network, sold to Microsoft in 1998.
Zappos
He invested in Zappos and became its CEO in 2000. Zappos offered free shipping both ways and 365-day returns and was known for long customer-service calls. Amazon bought it in 2009 for about $1.2 billion.
Culture
Hsieh wrote Delivering Happiness (2010) and introduced holacracy, a management system without traditional bosses. He invested $350 million to revive downtown Las Vegas.
Death
He retired from Zappos in August 2020 and died in November 2020 from injuries in a house fire.
Timeline
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1973
Born in Urbana, Illinois, United States
-
1996
Co-founds LinkExchange
-
1998
Microsoft buys LinkExchange
-
2000
CEO of Zappos
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2009
Amazon buys Zappos
-
2010
Delivering Happiness
-
2012
Downtown Project in Las Vegas
-
2020
Dies
-
2020
Died, aged 46
Notable works
-
2010
Delivering Happiness Book
Did you know?
-
1
Zappos paid new staff to quit if they did not fit the culture.
-
2
He ran a pizza business at Harvard.
-
3
One Zappos customer-service call lasted more than ten hours.
Connections
Also born on 12 December
-
Yuvraj Singh
Sports · All-rounder who hit six sixes in an over and starred in the 2011 World Cup
1981
-
Rajinikanth
Film & TV · Tamil cinema superstar with a five-decade career
1950
-
Sharad Pawar
Sports · Four-time Chief Minister of Maharashtra and founder of the Nationalist Congress Party
1940
-
Mulk Raj Anand
Literature · Novelist, author of Untouchable and Coolie
1905
-
Robert Noyce
Technology · Co-inventor of the integrated circuit and co-founder of Intel, the “Mayor of Silicon Valley”
1927
Frequently asked
Who is Tony Hsieh?
Tony Hsieh was an American entrepreneur who sold his start-up LinkExchange to Microsoft for $265 million and then led the online shoe retailer Zappos, which Amazon bought in 2009. He was famous for focusing on customer service and company culture. He died in 2020.
When did Tony Hsieh die?
Tony Hsieh died on 27 November 2020 at the age of 46.
Where is Tony Hsieh from?
Tony Hsieh was born in Urbana, Illinois, United States.
What is Tony Hsieh known for?
Tony Hsieh is best known for Co-founding LinkExchange; leading Zappos (1999–2020); Delivering Happiness; Downtown Project in Las Vegas.
References
- Tony Hsieh — Wikipedia. Wikipedia. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Tony Hsieh — IMDb. IMDb. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Tony Hsieh — Goodreads author page. Goodreads. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
- Tony Hsieh (Q3458948) — structured data. Wikidata. Retrieved 4 November 2026.
Includes material from the Wikipedia article “Tony Hsieh”, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. That text is available under the same licence. Learn more
About this profile
- Researched by the TrackFame editorial team; reviewed by Sanjay Sokal under our editorial policy
- First published 4 November 2026
- Last updated
Cite this page
“Tony Hsieh.” TrackFame, last updated 5 November 2026. https://trackfame.com/person/tony-hsieh
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