A late June incident marked a dark turning point for Tony Hsieh, and may have paved the way for his quiet resignation as the CEO of Zappos later in the summer, Business Insider has learned.
Hsieh unexpectedly left the trip after the episode, which had unsettled many of his fellow passengers. The Zappos CEO returned to Park City, while the rest of the group continued the trip on the bus. Shortly after Hsieh's return to Utah, on the morning of June 30, an anonymous male friend of Hsieh's called 911. The friend said Hsieh had broken several things in his house and was threatening to hurt himself, perThe call was coded as a psychiatric incident, according to the call logs.
One of the sources familiar with the bus incident believes it was communicated to Zappos' senior leadership, who later brought it to Amazon, Zappos' parent company. Amazon kept Zappos at an arm's length, and most senior leaders at Amazon weren't aware of Hsieh's personal issues, said people with knowledge of the situation. Amazon declined to comment on the matter.
"I'm reaching out to share that Tony has decided to retire as CEO of Zappos. We want to thank Tony for his 20 years of work on behalf of Zappos customers and employees and wish him well in his next chapter. Effective today, I will be assuming the role of CEO and will be working to make this a seamless transition. As always, we are focused on wowing customers and the 10 core values that drive us every day.
His death elicited an outpouring of emotions and memorials from many Zappos employees, former colleagues, and other people close to the internet entrepreneur, considered a life inspiration to many.
Sometimes what makes us great are our biggest flaws.