Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh, champion of downtown Las Vegas, retires
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh stepping down, report says - VIDEO
Updated August 24, 2020 - 9:42 pm

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh speaks at the Travel Leaders Network 2018 EDGE International Conference at Caesars Palace at 3570 S. Las Vegas Blvd. in Las Vegas on Friday, June 15, 2018. Bill Hughes/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh speaks at the company's All Hands employee event at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas on Aug. 9, 2012. The event is a quarterly meeting to update employees of goings-on in the company. (Jessica Ebelhar/Las Vegas Review-Journal) Jessica Ebelhar
Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh speaks at the company's All Hands employee event at the Smith Center for the Performing Arts in Las Vegas on Aug. 9, 2012. The event is a quarterly meeting to update employees of goings-on in the company. (Jessica Ebelhar/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Tony Hsieh, CEO of online clothing retailer Zappos.com, stands near a Vegas neon sign in downtown Las Vegas on Friday, Feb. 3, 2012. Hsieh is using his vision and money to redevelop downtown Las Vegas, to include purchasing First Friday. (Jeff Scheid / Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Zappos.com CEO and Downtown Project head Tony Hsieh speaks during his keynote at SXSW V2V meeting at the Cosmopolitan on Monday, Aug. 12, 2013. (Jeff Scheid/Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Tony Hsieh (Justin Yurkanin/Las Vegas Review Journal)

Vegas Young Professionals named Zappos.com CEO Tony Hsieh, 34, its 2008 Mover and Shaker of the Year. Photo is from Oct. 13, 2018. (Jacob Kepler / Las Vegas Review-Journal)

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh works at his desk in an area called The Jungle, Friday Jan. 23, 2009. (John Gurzinski / Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Tony Hsieh has stepped down as CEO of Zappos.com.
Hsieh retired from the Las Vegas-based online retailer after 20 years at the helm, company spokeswoman Laura Davis confirmed Monday.
Chief Operating Officer Kedar Deshpande is set to take over as CEO, effective Monday.
“Everything Tony did in helping rebuild downtown was energized, mesmerizing and exciting for our city,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said Monday. “He’s a modest person. He’s not a braggart, but he loves to do things that are different and challenging. When everyone is swimming downstream, he is swimming upstream.”
Goodman said she has not spoken directly to Hseih about his plans.
“I hope he’ll resurface in Las Vegas. He really has taken a leadership role in this city,” she said.
Hsieh, 46, a Harvard University graduate, joined the online shoe company in 1999, initially skeptical that the venture could be successful. It was sold to Amazon for $1.2 billion in 2009, but he remained with the company and has a residence in downtown Las Vegas.
In 2012, he invested $350 million into revitalizing downtown Las Vegas, developing the popular Container Park with its fire-breathing praying mantis art sculpture at the entrance. About 60 percent of the $350 million Downtown Project budget focused on real estate, while $50 million each was meant for small businesses, tech startups and education, arts and culture.
Among other things, the Downtown Project owned shuttered motels and partnered with Arizona developer the Wolff Co. to build Fremont9, a five-story, 232-unit apartment complex that recently opened.
In 2018, Hsieh renamed the Downtown Project DTP Companies.
Zappos.com initially was named “ShoeSite.com” and was headquartered in a Green Valley business park in Henderson. In 2013, the company moved out of Henderson and took over the building formerly housing City Hall in downtown Las Vegas.
Brian “Paco” Alvarez, the company’s former art curator and corporate historian, said of Hsieh, “He made me the entrepreneur I am today.”
Contact Richard N. Velotta at rvelotta@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3893. Follow @RickVelotta on Twitter. Contact Bailey Schulz at bschulz@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0233. Follow @bailey_schulz on Twitter. Review-Journal columnist John Katsilometes contributed to this reoport. Contact him at jkatsilometes@reviewjournal.com. Follow @johnnykats on Twitter, @JohnnyKats1 on Instagram.