Friday, November 27, 2020

Zappos Founder Tony Hsieh Dead At 46

Tony Hsieh, the founder of Zappos--and a big angel investor in Southern California startups--has died, at the age of 46, according to Las Vegas media. According to a statement from DTP Companies, the company that runs the Las Vegas Downtown Project, Hsieh died on November 27th surrounded by family. Reports from FOX 5 Las Vegas says Hsieh died as a result of injuries sustained from a house fire which occurred in Connecticut while he was visiting family. Hsieh had made investments in such local Southern California companies as Combatant Gentleman, uBeam, Stir, Quarterly Co., Ecomom, JetSuite, and many others, and was well known among Southern California's high tech, venture capital, and angel community. Hsieh co-founded Zappos in 1999, and sold it to Amazon in 2009, for approximately $1.2 billion. After that, Hsieh launched The Downtown Project, an effort to turn Las Vegas into a startup hub and help revitalize downtown Las Vegas.