The Wall Street Journal - USA (2020-12-07)

A10| Monday, December 7, 2020 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

Zappos co-founder Tony Hsieh spoke at a Las Vegas convention in 2014. He died in a fire last month.

CHARLEY GALLAY/GETTY IMAGES FOR CINEMACON

said Roger Bilham, professor

of geology and Everest-history

expert at the University of

Colorado, Boulder. “Because

it’s a Nepalese-Chinese ven-

ture, there were no impedi-

ments to access or technol-

ogy.”

The teams used everything

from old-fashioned trigonome-

try and surveying equipment

such as the theodolite—an op-

tical instrument on a tripod,

the kind one sees used in road

construction—to satellite posi-

tioning and gravity meters.

Measuring involves climb-

ing to the top and using satel-

lite signals that can locate any

point within millimeters. Sur-

veyors must measure down to

sea level, lugging height-mea-

suring and gravity-measuring

equipment to the water while

taking thousands of measure-

ments along the way.

Nepal started talking about

an Everest survey in 2011. The

2015 earthquake shook Kath-

mandu into action as scien-

tists around the world won-

dered whether the quake had

changed the height. Nepal con-

vened international experts

and solicited money and gear

donations. There was training

abroad and a winding survey

of more than 150 miles to Ne-

pal’s border with India.

In May 2019, two scientists

and three Sherpas from Ne-

pal’s team of 80 summited,

lugging close to 90 pounds of

satellite-navigation equipment

and other gear. They left their

last camp in early afternoon

and climbed 13 hours to reach

the peak at 3 a.m.

“Most of the climbers stay

at the peak for about 10 to 15

minutes,” said Khim Lal Gau-

tam, chief survey officer. “We

stayed for about two hours.”

A few months later, Chinese

President Xi Jinping visited

Kathmandu. He and Nepal’s

Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli

announced they would jointly

unveil a new official height for

the mountain, a symbol of the

Nepal and China give Everest different heights but now are settling on one figure. Above, Chinese climbers neared the summit in May.

XINHUA/ZUMA PRESS

Tony Hsieh

Struggled

Near End

FROM PAGE ONE

ogy since the 1800s. It created
a disagreement between the
mountain’s two homelands.
The difference was over
rock versus snow. China’s of-
ficial height for Chomol-
ungma—its Tibetan name for
Everest—from a 2005 survey.
used “rock height.” Nepal has
used a “snow height” for the
peak it calls Sagarmatha, from
a 1954 survey India did. That’s
where people stand, atop the
snow, and the measure is stan-
dard in most countries.
One of the first official
measurements unveiled glob-
ally was in 1855 (29,002 feet).
Until a 1975 official measure-
ment by China (29,029 feet),
surveys were by foreigners.
The new measure will come
from a first-ever joint an-
nouncement by Nepal and
China. Everest falls partly in
China’s Tibet autonomous re-
gion. Chinese teams gauged
the distance from gravity and
sea level at the Yellow Sea.
Nepal’s did the same going
south to its border with India.
“This is the cat’s whiskers,
in terms of doing it right,”

ContinuedfromPageOne

nations’ friendship.

While Nepal was almost

done with its own calculation,

it figured it was better to

work with China so there

would be a single number, said

Tek Narayan Pandey, the sec-

retary of Nepal’s Ministry of

Land Management and Pov-

erty Alleviation.

The coronavirus delayed

China’s efforts. It wasn’t until

May 2020 that China’s team

could scale the peak from the

North. The Chinese spent 150

minutes there.

Nepal, like most countries

in South Asia, has been get-

ting closer to China and has

big infrastructure projects

planned under China’s Belt

and Road initiative, including

a railroad through the Himala-

yas and tunnel under them to

connect the two countries.

The new Everest altitude

isn’t likely to be radically dif-

ferent from previous esti-

mates, which have clustered in

a narrow range in recent

years, said Mr. Bilham, the ge-

ologist: “I think it’ll be the

best number we have and

probably the best number

we’ll ever have.”

Snow height will be Ever-

est’s new official summit, ac-

cording to Nepal’s Mr. Pandey.

“The dispute over rock

height and snow height,” he

said, “will be a thing of the

past.”

—Xiao Xiao and Yin Yijun

contributed to this article.

of his work and life, and his
drinking increased after he re-
tired and grappled with the
isolation enforced by the pan-
demic, those close to him said.
He began experimenting with
drugs, such as mushrooms and
ecstasy, they said.
That was only one compo-
nent of increasingly extreme
behavior. A longstanding fasci-
nation with fire intensified,
friends said. A real-estate
agent who sold him a mansion
in Park City and visited the
house shortly afterward esti-
mated Mr. Hsieh had 1,
candles there.
Mr. Hsieh became fixated
on trying to figure out what
his body could live without,
according to one friend. He
starved himself of food, whit-
tling away to under 100
pounds; he tried not to uri-
nate; and he deprived himself
of oxygen, turning toward ni-
trous oxide, which can induce
hypoxia, this person said.
Mr. Hsieh was away from
his longtime friends and fam-
ily in San Francisco’s Bay Area
and Las Vegas, and was sur-
rounded by a new group that
indulged his behavior, friends
said. According to them, the
new group were taking advan-
tage of Mr. Hsieh, living in his
homes and collecting salaries
for little work.
“Things were falling apart
for him,” said Mr. Plastina.

Rehab plans

There were signs Mr. Hsieh
knew he was in trouble. On the
day before the fire, he was mak-
ing plans to check into a reha-
bilitation clinic in Hawaii. He
was in New London staying
with a longtime girlfriend and
former Zappos executive, Ra-
chael Brown, along with one of
his brothers, Andy Hsieh, and
others, said people close to him.
Mr. Hsieh at one point said
he was going to a shed at-
tached to the home and asked
people in the house to check
on him every five minutes, by
the people’s account. They
said Tony used a heater in the
shed to lower the oxygen level.
When a fire broke out, and
others at the house tried to
get to him, they couldn’t. One
emergency worker was heard
telling others he was barri-
caded inside. Mr. Hsieh died
from complications of smoke
inhalation, the coroner said.
Overhis20yearsasanex-
ecutive, Mr. Hsieh carved out
an unusual and closely studied
business career in which he
helped reshape customer ser-
vice, tried to single-handedly
revitalize parts of Las Vegas
and challenged the role of hi-
erarchies in corporations.
Mr. Hsieh was introverted
but had a deep desire to bring
people together, and invested
time and money into his
friends’ lives. One friend de-
scribed him as “The Giving
Tree,” referring to the story

ContinuedfromPageOne

by Shel Silverstein in which a

tree gives every part of itself

to a boy she loves but gets

nothing in return.

Mr. Hsieh blended his per-

sonal and professional lives

into a quest for spiritual union

with his colleagues, friends

and former co-workers say.

His approach brought wealth

and admirers. It also contrib-

uted to his tragic last months.

Mr. Hsieh, born to Taiwan-

ese parents who raised him in

Marin County, Calif., sold the

first company he founded,

LinkExchange, to Microsoft

Corp. for about $265 million

when he was in his mid-20s.

The next year he invested

in what became Zappos and

became CEO. Amazon.com Inc.

bought Zappos in 2009 for

more than $1 billion. Mr. Hsieh

remained chief executive.

In Las Vegas, he became be-

loved for investing $350 mil-

lion to revitalize part of the

city’s downtown.

Mr. Hsieh didn’t believe in

company hierarchy, assigning

titles like “fungineer.” When

Mark Guadagnoli, a professor

of neuroscience at the Univer-

sity of Nevada, Las Vegas, took

a break from academics to

work awhile at Zappos, Mr.

Hsieh gave him the title of

“zookeeper.” He was charged

with creating a Zappos Univer-

sity culture training center.

Mr. Hsieh was annoyed

when people called the area

where he sat “executive row,”

said Dr. Guadagnoli, who re-

mained friends with Mr. Hsieh.

Dr. Guadagnoli said he be-

gan calling it Monkey Row,

and Mr. Hsieh loved that idea.

Mr. Hsieh arranged for camou-

flage netting to be put up and

suspended stuffed monkeys

and other creatures.

“He was really interested in

what made jokes funny,” Dr.

Guadagnoli said. The professor

once made an amusing remark

and then smiled. “I think it

would be funnier if you didn’t

smile,” he recalled Mr. Hsieh

responding.

For one New Year’s Eve

party at his 3,500-square-foot

loft in San Francisco, he

rented a fog machine, which

ended up setting off a fire

alarm. He had to apologize

when two firetrucks showed

up.

Alcohol-fueled parties were

frequent at the company and

at Mr. Hsieh’s homes, in San

Francisco and later in Las Ve-

gas and Park City.

Mr. Hsieh wrote in “Deliver-

ing Happiness” that shots of

Grey Goose vodka were a com-

pany tradition. He told Play-

boy magazine in 2014 he

wrote the book in part fueled

by coffee beans soaked in

vodka. Friends say he went

through a period in which he

was obsessed with the Italian

liqueur Fernet.

“Ultimately happiness is re-

ally just about enjoying life,”

he wrote in the 2010 book.

Mr. Hsieh wrote that the

Zappos culture was all about

the pursuit of fun. “When you

need to party, you party. When

you need to produce, you pro-

duce,” he wrote.

In a written statement, a

Zappos spokeswoman said the

company "is committed to

providing a safe and fun work-

place for all of our employees.

As part of this, all employees

are required to review our

Code of Conduct, which in-

cludes guidance on team gath-

erings and company func-

tions.”

According to Dr. Guadag-

noli, Mr. Hsieh ran experi-

ments on himself—limiting his

sleep to four hours a day and

climbing the three highest

peaks in Southern California

in one day.

He tried a 26-day diet, eat-

ing only foods that started

with the letter “A” on the first

day and progressing through

the alphabet each day. Some

letters offered indulgences.

The final “Z” day amounted

nearly to fasting, according to

one friend, Paul Carr.

In 1999, Mr. Hsieh discov-

ered the joy of raves after go-

ing to one in a warehouse.

“As someone who is usually

known as being the most logi-

cal and rational person in a

group, I was surprised to feel

myself swept with an over-

whelming sense of spiritual-

ity,” he wrote in his book. “It

was as if the existence of indi-

vidual consciousness had dis-

appeared and been replaced

by a single unifying group

consciousness.”

Mr. Hsieh was a frequent

attendee at the Burning Man

music festival in the Nevada

desert, bringing art from the

festival back to downtown Las

Vegas. A 40-foot praying man-

tis that shoots fire is on dis-

play outside his “Container

Park” development in Las Ve-

gas, in which shops are lo-

cated inside stacks of con-

verted shipping containers.

At one annual event, Mr.

Hsieh saw an electronic dance

music performance group who

called themselves the “Dance-

tronauts” perform. He fell in

love with the group and in-

sisted they become part of his

plan to revitalize Las Vegas,

said Mr. Plastina, the head of

the group, who uprooted his

life in California a decade ago

to be part of Mr. Hsieh’s vi-

sion.

Mr. Hsieh joined the Dance-

tronauts in his own astronaut

jumpsuit, and the group be-

came frequent performers at

Las Vegas’s monthly “First

Friday” arts festival. They also

performed at Mr. Hsieh’s regu-

lar parties in his self-built

community, a collection of

trailers and tiny homes, in-

cluding an Airstream that he

lived in.

The Airstream compound,

as it was known to friends,

also featured a fire pit and a

stage. Mr. Hsieh let his pet al-

paca, Marley, roam around.

Mr. Hsieh bought friends

houses, apartments and res-

taurants, say people who knew

him. “He created greenhouses

for people to be themselves

and flourish,” said Jenn Lim, a

longtime friend who helped

Mr. Hsieh write his book and

now heads a consulting and

training firm that espouses his

management philosophy.

Earlier this year, Mr. Hsieh

began buying properties far

from Las Vegas, in the Utah

resort town of Park City, with

a similar mission of trans-

forming its downtown, accord-

ing to people familiar with his

plans.

The centerpiece was a

17,350-square-foot mansion

with a private lake that he

bought for about $16 million,

said Paul Benson, a real-estate

agent who represented the

sellers.

He also bought condos in

the area for guests and quietly

began investing in local busi-

nesses.

When he visited the man-

sion, Mr. Hsieh wanted the

house immediately and asked

the family who owned it not to

return home so he could begin

living there right away, Mr.

Benson said.

The family agreed. Mr.

Hsieh was constantly sur-

rounded by other people, and

the purchase appeared to Mr.

Benson to be a group decision.

“Tony was clearly the

leader, but there was defi-

nitely a group of people that

had said they were moving to

Park City because of Tony,

that had said he was ex-

tremely generous and a big

part of their families, their

worlds, and they were going to

follow him to Park City,” Mr.

Benson said.

Mr. Benson said when he

visited the house to help re-

trieve the sellers’ belongings

and found the host of candles,

Mr. Hsieh “explained to me

that the candles were a sym-

bol of what life was like in a

simpler time.”

Mr. Hsieh had offered to

pay friends to move to Park

City and work at businesses he

helped fund or other city de-

velopment jobs with vague de-

scriptions; some collected sal-

aries while doing little and

living in his homes, and en-

couraged his drug and alcohol

abuse, those close to him said.

Mr. Hsieh hired luxury tour

buses to ferry friends to the

community. Musician David

Perrico said he and members

of his Pop Strings Orchestra

rode one of those buses in Au-

gust at the invitation of Ms.

Brown, Mr. Hsieh’s girlfriend

and a cellist in the band. Ms.

Brown didn’t respond to re-

quests for comment.

Mr. Perrico said he stayed

in a condo and visited the

mansion, jamming with other

musicians, with the idea of

possibly performing in a fu-

ture venue in Mr. Hsieh’s de-

veloping vision for Park City,

but saw Mr. Hsieh only once in

passing.

Mr. Hsieh was uncomfort-

able in one-on-one settings,

friends said, and the pandemic

closed off much of his social

scene. His drug use increased,

they said.

In Las Vegas and at Zappos,

Mr. Hsieh always had a strong

group of friends who ques-

tioned his grandiose ideas and

were able to stop him when

his plans didn’t make sense. In

Park City he was surrounded

by people who only told him

“yes,” one of his close friends

said.

After a therapist recom-

mended a “digital detox” this

spring, Mr. Hsieh began fur-

ther distancing himself from

some of his longtime friends,

who had trouble reaching him.

When one FaceTimed him in

early July, “he did not look

well,” the friend said.

By August, his father,

brother Andy and a half dozen

friends were planning an in-

tervention to organize profes-

sional help for him, according

to people familiar with the ef-

forts.

That same month, Mr.

Hsieh’s retirement from Zap-

pos exacerbated his downward

spiral, friends say. Some such

as Mr. Plastina said they tried

unsuccessfully to reach him in

his last weeks.

On Nov. 18, firefighters

rushed to a burning three-

story beachfront home in New

London at 3:34 a.m. An emer-

gency worker said one man

was “stuck inside,” according

to a radio recording of first re-

sponders. Some firefighters

and dispatchers referred to

the victim as “trapped.”

‘Barricaded’

One gave a different de-

scription. “The male is barri-

caded inside,” that person said

over the radio. “He’s not an-

swering the door. Everyone

else is outside the house. They

are trying to get him to open

up.”

Mr. Hsieh’s estate is likely

worth hundreds of millions of

dollars. In a court filing, fam-

ily members have said it ap-

pears Mr. Hsieh died without

an estate plan. On Thursday, a

judge in Las Vegas appointed

Mr. Hsieh’s father, Richard,

and brother Andrew as special

administrators and legal rep-

resentatives of the estate,

finding that Mr. Hsieh’s per-

sonal and business affairs “re-

quire immediate attention to

prevent loss to the estate.”

In a written statement, the

Hsieh family said they

wouldn’t comment on the spe-

cifics of Mr. Hsieh’s life and

career. They said they were

“deeply grateful for the out-

pouring of love and respect

shown in the wake of Tony’s

passing. It is clear to us he

had a profound impact on

countless people all over the

world.”

The family said they

planned to “carry on his leg-

acy by spreading the tenets he

lived by—finding joy through

meaningful life experiences,

inspiring and helping others,

and most of all, delivering

happiness.”

—Kate King and Jim

Oberman contributed to this

article.

Altitude

Adjustment

Fo r E ve res t

Mr. Hsieh’s drinking

increased after he

retired and grappled

with isolation.