Sanlmar, what was your daughter's reaction to this? Did she ever meet him there? What was the impression of Tony among Zappos workers?
As I've said in previous threads, I see why Zappos succeeded, but they were always a little bit "off" operations-wise.
Really curious as to how he died, given that he was only 46. Drug OD? COVID? Massive heart attack? Stroke? Cancer? The only thing we know is that it was he died "around his family members", making COVID seem unlikely.
He retired as CEO three months ago, which might be indicative that he knew this was coming.
He was a big believer in downtown Las Vegas, and invested $350 million in projects there since 2012.
According to this LVRJ article, Tony initially believed that Zappos would be a failsite when he joined it in the late '90s: https://www.reviewjournal.com/busine...tires-2102935/
werent there a bunch of strange stories going around about his living circumstances in vegas?
i seem to recall something about how there hasnt been any electrical feed to his house there for a long time.
"Birds born in a cage think flying is an illness." - Alejandro Jodorowsky
"America is not so much a nightmare as a non-dream. The American non-dream is precisely a move to wipe the dream out of existence. The dream is a spontaneous happening and therefore dangerous to a control system set up by the non-dreamers." -- William S. Burroughs
No, I hadn't heard of that, but if anyone has any links to such stories, I'd like to read them. I've been mildly fascinated with Zappos and Hsieh ever since I won that $6k worth of gift cards at Cosmo years ago (which I have almost used up), and the company's innovation combined with strange operational blunders has been interesting to observe.Originally Posted by sonatine
Wouldn't surprise me if Hsieh turned out to be a freak and a weird dude. Seems to often be the case with these highly successful, innovative types. Steve Jobs was a great example of this, though I've heard that Hsieh was mostly well-liked, whereas Jobs was a notorious asshole.
https://twitter.com/twt/status/1332582010217398272
It’s the Review Journal so I’d like confirmation but.....
I’ll ask some people I know tomorrow.
Tweet doesn't exist. URL cut/paste fail?
Like, seriously?! Who would have expected that...No, I hadn't heard of that, but if anyone has any links to such stories, I'd like to read them. I've been mildly fascinated with Zappos and Hsieh ever since I won that $6k worth of gift cards at Cosmo years ago (which I have almost used up), and the company's innovation combined with strange operational blunders has been interesting to observe.
Wouldn't surprise me if Hsieh turned out to be a freak and a weird dude. Seems to often be the case with these highly successful, innovative types. Steve Jobs was a great example of this, though I've heard that Hsieh was mostly well-liked, whereas Jobs was a notorious asshole.
https://www.reviewjournal.com/busine...-fire-2193165/
Strange.
"Injuries from a house fire" is also a weird description, as most people who die from house fires either suffer from smoke inhalation or are burned to death.
What do they mean by "injuries" here? Is it possible the jumped out the window from the 2nd story to get out of the house, injured himself badly, and died?
Vital Vegas, whatever that is, had him getting seriously hurt in a house fire in New London, Ct and eventually succumbing after a short hospitalization. I didn’t know if that was reliable. I seem to recall talk of that being garbage site, so I didn’t chime in when I searched his cause of death when thread popped up.
Come on Druff. I doubt you followed his story at all.No, I hadn't heard of that, but if anyone has any links to such stories, I'd like to read them. I've been mildly fascinated with Zappos and Hsieh ever since I won that $6k worth of gift cards at Cosmo years ago (which I have almost used up), and the company's innovation combined with strange operational blunders has been interesting to observe.
Wouldn't surprise me if Hsieh turned out to be a freak and a weird dude. Seems to often be the case with these highly successful, innovative types. Steve Jobs was a great example of this, though I've heard that Hsieh was mostly well-liked, whereas Jobs was a notorious asshole.
Jobs was an asshole. He was an open book in that regard. Hsieh was accessible and public. He too was an open book. He was well liked by his employees and the Las Vegas community.
Vegas will be the loser here at a time when Vegas needs a friend.
By virtue of this thread I broke the news to her. Her instant reaction was, “I wouldn’t be where I am today without Zappos”.
He partially subsidized her apartment because it was located close to the old city hall/Zappos HQ. Free medical, free food. It went on and on.
The employees loved Zappos. Hsieh kept Amazon out of their hair. Shit rapidly unwound toward the end of Hsieh’s reign. IT all bailed. They were all extremely loyal to one another in the after life. Great great network of ex colleagues. Zappos was like a college experience and is remembered fondly.
I jumped all over you when you posted this.
You nailed it.
I’m stunned. Such a waste.
Last edited by Sanlmar; 12-02-2020 at 08:07 PM.
sad to hear a guy like this died...remember reading some of your musings when ur daughter worked there...pretty cool that somebody who was undergrad at harvard "got it"...By virtue of this thread I broke the news to her. Her instant reaction was, “I wouldn’t be where I am today without Zappos”.
He partially subsidized her apartment because it was located close to the old city hall/Zappos HQ. Free medical, free food. It went on and on.
The employees loved Zappos. Hsieh kept Amazon out of their hair. Shit rapidly unwound toward the end of Hsieh’s reign. IT all bailed. They were all extremely loyal to one another in the after life. Great great network of ex colleagues. Zappos was like a college experience and is remembered fondly.
I jumped all over you when you posted this.
You nailed it.
I’m stunned. Such a waste.
the shit druff talked about, the no bosses thing probably went a little too far, but sounds like the guy's heart was in the right place...
treating employees as human...fucking novel concept...first job outta college my boss was like that...woulda taken a bullet for the guy...stayed outta our hair, let us do what we needed to do how we wanted to do it, always there if we needed help...but in return you couldnt be a fucking moron...i loved it...
Next drama: https://www.tmz.com/2020/12/02/ex-za...o-will-family/
He died without a will. He had no wife or kids.
His $840 million fortune will go to the closest relative(s).
Not sure if his parents are still alive. If they are, they'd get it.
The order (with no will is): spouse, children, parents, siblings, and nieces/nephews, grandchildren, grandparents, aunts/uncles.
and the State will get it if no one else does.
Tony Hsieh’s American Tragedy: The Self-Destructive Last Months Of The Zappos Visionary
https://www.forbes.com/sites/angelau...ppos-visionary
I felt bad posting this, because by all accounts, Hsieh was a good guy and meant well.By virtue of this thread I broke the news to her. Her instant reaction was, “I wouldn’t be where I am today without Zappos”.
He partially subsidized her apartment because it was located close to the old city hall/Zappos HQ. Free medical, free food. It went on and on.
The employees loved Zappos. Hsieh kept Amazon out of their hair. Shit rapidly unwound toward the end of Hsieh’s reign. IT all bailed. They were all extremely loyal to one another in the after life. Great great network of ex colleagues. Zappos was like a college experience and is remembered fondly.
I jumped all over you when you posted this.
You nailed it.
I’m stunned. Such a waste.
Unfortunately, I've seen it all too many times where groundbreaking innovators have major psychological flaws as a side effect. In fact, I think these psychological "flaws" are partially what enable them to be as good as they are at what they do.
What was good about Tony Hsieh was also what was bad about Tony Hsieh.
Fortunately, Tony's flaws appear to have been mostly destructive to himself, and not others. The same can't be said for Steve Jobs.
I do hope he's honored in downtown LV with a street name, or something like that. He deserves it, even if he did die while huffing nitrous in a locked shed.
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