Amazon will also give $40 million in cash and stock to Zappos employees, CNNMoney.com reports. The deal adds more than 1,000 shoe and apparel brands to the e-commerce giant's arsenal of products.

By May, 210 Zappos employees, or 14% of the company ... He wanted to create the Amazon of shoes. Hsieh and Lin decided to invest $2 million in the site, which Swinmurn soon renamed Zappos ...