Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh to deliver Happiness talk at the University of Maryland, Stamp Student Union

The Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship will host Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos.com, on Thursday, Sept. 30, 7 p.m. in the Hoff Theater, Stamp Student Union at the University of Maryland. Hsieh will discuss his new book, “Delivering Happiness,” which shows how using happiness as a framework can produce profits, passion and purpose both in business and in life.

In 1999, at the age of 24, Hsieh (pronounced Shay) sold LinkExchange, the company he co-founded, to Microsoft for $265 million. He then joined Zappos as an adviser and investor, and eventually became CEO, where he helped Zappos grow from almost no sales to over $1 billion in gross merchandise sales annually, while simultaneously making Fortune magazine’s annual “Best Companies to Work For” list. Zappos was acquired by Amazon in November 2009 in a deal valued at $1.2 billion on the day of closing.

Hsieh’s first book, “Delivering Happiness” debuted at No. 1 on the New York Times Best-Seller list and has remained on the list every week since June 2010. He will talk about how a very different kind of company culture is a powerful model for achieving success; and how concentrating on the happiness of those around you can dramatically increase your own. The event is free and open to the public.

He currently lives in Las Vegas and sort of has a cat.