Mark Shoen is an American businessperson who took over his family’s company, U-Haul, and rose to the position of Vice President. This business was founded by his father. He is also the largest shareholder in AMERCO, the company’s parent company. Mark Shoen is no longer actively involved in the company U-Haul, but he retains ownership in the form of shares.
He owns 19% of the business. His parents, Leonard Samuel and Anna Mary Shoen, founded AMERCO in 1945. He is currently 64 years old. Mark Shoen ranks 119th on the Forbes 400 (2015) list. In 2014, his name was ranked 122 on the same list.
Mark Shoen Childhood and Early Life
Mark Shoen was born in Phoenix to Leonard Shoen and Anna Mary Shoen. Shoen married and had one child because of the marriage. He had to fight his family to gain control of the family business because he did not agree with how it was being run.
Family of MarkShoen
Mark Shoen Father
Leonard Samuel “Sam” Shoen was born in McGrath, Minnesota on February 29, 1916. Sophie and Samuel J. Shoen were his parents. During the Great Depression, he grew up in the farm belt. Leonard had decided to offer low-cost rental storage and transfer transportation. Leonard graduated from Oregon Science College with a B.Sc. in General Science in 1943.
Despite enrolling at the University of Oregon Medical School in Portland, Leonard was suspended and never returned home. Sam served as a Hospital Apprentice First Class in the United States Navy in Bayview, Idaho and Seattle. In 1945, he was discharged due to rheumatic fever. Leonard received his L.L.B. from the North Western College of Law in Portland in 1955. This was shortly after he founded the U-Haul Company.
Leonard and his first wife, Anna Mary Carty Shoen, founded the U-Haul truck and trailer company in Ridgefield, Washington, in 1945. Co-founders included both husband and first wife. U-Haul began with a $5,000 investment.
Shoens were initially required to work 16-hour shifts on a regular basis. They reinvested all of their profits back into the company. Sam worked on rental trailers at his in-laws’ Carty Ranch in Ridgefield. Mobil station on Interstate station in Portland was the first U-Haul Rental Agent.
Shoen reorganized the U-Haul Trailer Rental Company as ARCOA (Associated Rental Companies of America) Inc. in 1951. Over 10,000 U-Haul trailers were on the road by 1955. This brand was well known throughout the country. Sam diversified his holdings in the 1960s by forming Amerco Inc. from Advanced Management Engineering and Research Company. The corporate offices in Portland were relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in 1967.
Mark Shoen Career
Shoen is the largest shareholder in AMERCO, U-holding Haul’s company. The latter is North America’s largest moving and storage company. Shoen has a net worth of $1.4 million as of January 2015. U-Haul survived the postwar Baby Boom and emerged victorious. However, it encountered difficulties during the 1970s fuel crisis. Mark and his brothers Joe and James took over the company from their father in 1986 because they did not agree with how it was being run.
This resulted in a number of lawsuits and infighting among Leonard Shoen’s 12 children. Mark Shoen was President of U-Haul for 16 years, beginning in 1990. On his way to becoming President, he had to overcome a number of social setbacks, including his father’s suicide and the murder of his sister-in-law. To wrest control of the company from his family, he had to fight a protracted legal battle.
Mark Shoen Heights
Mark Shoen’s career milestone came in January 2015, when he was said to have a net worth of $1.4 million. Another high point in his career came in 1990, when he was appointed President of the company U-Haul. He reached a new career high when he took over the company from other members of his family.
Mark Shoen Personal Life
Mark Shoen was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1951 to Leonard Shoen and Anna Mary Shoen. Shoen married and had a child. Mark Shoen did not become AMERCO’s largest shareholder overnight. On his way to becoming the most powerful shareholder, he had to witness his father’s suicide and the murder of his sister-in-law.
Mark Shoen named wealthiest person in the history of Arizona
According to a study of the country’s wealthiest people, Shoen was placed ahead of Robert Gore of Utah and Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta of Nevada, but behind Jeff Bezos of New Mexico and Donald Bren of California, according to the study, which weighed the history of each state’s wealthiest person, accounting for inflation and other factors.
Shoen made his fortune as Amerco’s largest shareholder through a limited partnership. According to Forbes, Amerco is U-parent Haul’s company.
He keeps a low profile but maintains good relations with his brother Joe Shoen, the president and chairman of Amerco.
Joe Shoen took over U-Haul from his father in 1986, after his father was accused of ruining the company. During the takeover, Mark Shoen supported his brother.
Mark Shoen supplemented his income by owning a private self-storage facility that does business with U-Haul.
Bezos makes the list despite being born in New Mexico and making his fortune as the CEO of Amazon, which is headquartered in Seattle. Bezos was one of four people on the list with a fortune exceeding $100 billion.The other three were Oklahoma’s Sam Walton, Pennsylvania’s Richard Mellon Scaife, and New York’s John D. Rockefeller. There were seven states whose richest person was worth less than $1 billion.
Recognitions of Mark Shoen
Shoen owned 3.8 million AMERCO shares, which increased his worth to $845 billion. Shoen’s name appeared on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index list. He had never previously been included in any international wealth rankings. As a result, this was a tremendous honor.
Mark Shoen Net Worth
Mark Shoen is an American businessperson with a net worth of $4.7 billion. Mark Shoen amassed his multibillion-dollar fortune as the largest shareholder of Amerco, the parent company of U-Haul. Mark’s parents, Leonard and Anny Mary Shoen, founded U-Haul in 1945.
Mark Shoen, who led the company for 40 years until his retirement in 2012, was largely responsible for its enormous success. His most influential years were from 1994 to 2007, when he was president of U-Haul.
Shoen fought for efforts to modernize the company’s vehicle fleet during his tenure, and he even started philanthropic initiatives to help veterans and disaster victims. While Mark is now retired, his brother Joe Shoen is still the company’s CEO.
The Shoen family also owns a majority stake in U-parent Haul’s company, AMERCO, which generates more than $4 billion in revenue per year. However, U-Haul is not Mark’s only source of wealth. He makes a portion of his fortune by owning one of the largest private self-storage operations in the United States, with over 400 properties across the country. Mark Shoen, a graduate of the College of the Holy Cross, has made significant contributions to Catholic charities.
