Peter Bohler/Redux

Hsieh has purchased 71 bathrooms in less than three months. Ex?Zappos chief Tony Hsieh is buying up millions of dollars? worth of real estate in the small ski town of Park City, Utah, and no one quite knows why. After two decades as CEO, Hsieh quietly stepped down from the online shoe retailer this past August without a formal announcement. His retirement present to himself" Tens of millions of dollars in Utah homes.
Park City knows wealth: It?s the site of the Sundance Film Festival, and Michael Jordan and Will Smith, as well as the festival?s co-founder Robert Redford, own houses there. But according to public records in Summit County, Utah, the scale and timeframe of Hsieh?s purchases is likely unprecedented; after buying a 4,395-square-foot home on Empire Avenue in March, he bought three more houses and a vacant lot in July, and four more homes in August. All of this ? worth at least an estimated $39 million? was purchased through a Nevada entity called Pickled Investments, which Hsieh manages. Since then, the almost billionaire has closed on three more homes, each purchased using different LLCs that all list Hsieh?s original Empire Avenue house as the registered address. And he?s reportedly under contract on three more properties that will close this month. Altogether, over the past 11 weeks, he?s got himself 57 bedrooms, 71.5 bathrooms, and 68,169 square feet. Throw in the two vacant lots and his retirement buying spree has cost a to...