Tony Hsieh, who became a frequently quoted and studied management guru by offering free shipping of shoes and persuading millions of people to buy them online at Zappos.com Inc., died Friday at the age of 46.
Mr. Hsieh died from injuries he sustained in a house fire on Nov. 18 in New London, Conn., said his attorney Puoy Premsrirut.
In response to questions about Mr. Hsiehs death, Thomas Curcio, chief of the New London Fire Department, said firefighters were called to a burning waterfront home at 3:34 a.m. Nov. 18. Firefighters forced entry, removed the victim and started CPR, Chief Curcio said.
The victim, suffering from apparent burns and smoke inhalation, was flown to the Connecticut Burn Center in Bridgeport, Conn., officials said. The New London fire marshals office is investigating.
Mr. Hsieh, a Harvard-educated son of immigrants from Taiwan, in his early 20s co-founded an online ad company and sold it to Microsoft Corp. for about $265 million in 1998. The next year he invested in what became Zappos, nursed it through the dot-com bust and became chief executive. Amazon . com Inc. bought Zappos in 2009 for more than $1 billion.