Tony Hsieh, the late CEO of Zappos who passed away unexpectedly in November 2020, is seen frail and holding a whippet inhalant canister in a newly released photograph.
Hsieh was a pioneering tech entrepreneur and made his fortune through co-founding the online advertising network LinkExchange in the late 1990s. He sold the company to Microsoft in 1998 and made a $265 million windfall.
Hsieh became a major investor in Zappos and was appointed CEO in 2001. Under his leadership, the company’s gross sales grew from $1.6 million to over $1 billion annually by 2008. In 2009, Amazon acquired Zappos, and Hsieh received an additional quarter of a billion dollars from the sale. He retired from the role in August 2020.
During his tenure, Hsieh relocated Zappos from San Francisco to Henderson, Nevada in 2001, and then to downtown Las Vegas. His company was a major force in the transformation of downtown Las Vegas and the Fremont Street area, and also provided assistance to the victims of the October 1 mass shooting in 2017 by offering to pay their funeral expenses.
Tragically, Hsieh passed away at the age of 46 while visiting family in Connecticut for Thanksgiving. On the morning of November 18, 2020, it was discovered that he had died from smoke inhalation in a pool shed that was filled with candles and a propane heater.
A September 2020 photograph of Hsieh, which was recently released through court records, shows him looking extremely ill and holding a whippet canister. Whippets are a dangerous inhalant drug that can induce pain numbing, hallucinations, and delusions. The legal wrangling over his estate, which was worth $840 million at the time of his death, is ongoing.
Tony Hsieh, the late Zappos CEO who passed away unexpectedly in November 2020, is seen frail and holding a whippet inhalant canister in a newly released photograph.
Hsieh was an early tech innovator and business leader who made a fortune through co-founding the online advertising network LinkExchange in the late 1990s. Microsoft’s acquisition of the company in 1998 provided him with a buyout of $265 million.
Hsieh became a major investor in Zappos and was appointed CEO in 2001. Under his stewardship, the company’s gross sales increased exponentially from $1.6 million to over $1 billion annually by 2008. In 2009, Amazon acquired Zappos and Hsieh made a further quarter of a billion dollars from the sale. He retired from the role in August 2020.
Hsieh’s vision for Zappos resulted in the company’s relocation from San Francisco to Henderson, Nevada in 2001, and then to downtown Las Vegas. His business was instrumental in the transformation of the Fremont Street area and downtown Las Vegas and also provided much-needed assistance to the victims of the October 1 mass shooting in 2017.
Sadly, Hsieh passed away at the age of 46 while visiting family in Connecticut for Thanksgiving. On the morning of November 18, 2020, it was revealed that he had died in a pool shed filled with candles and a propane heater, due to smoke inhalation.
A photograph of Hsieh from September 2020, released through court records, shows him looking gaunt and holding a whippet canister. Whippets are an inhalant drug that can cause pain numbing, delusions, and hallucinations. His estate, estimated to be worth $840 million at the time of his death, is subject to ongoing legal battles.
