U-Haul founder's son is self-storage billionaire

Mark V. Shoen, one of the12 children of U-Haul founder Leonard Shoen, is now the largest shareholder of U-Haul parent Amerco and a billionaire,

Bloomberg reported.

Mark Shoen, 62, owns 3.8 million shares of Amerco, valued at $845 million. He also controls 437 storage facilities, most of which were purchased from Amerco with $600 million in company-backed loans, the Bloomberg report said.

Mark Shoen began buying storage facilities form the company in 1993, when he was a director of the company, the Bloomberg report said.

Shoen’s brother James owns about 1.9 million Amerco shares valued at $414 million. Another brother, Joe, own 3.5 million shares valued at $767 million, Bloomberg said. “The three brothers vote their combined 47 percent stake as a block,” the article said.

Mark, James and Joe gained control of the company in a proxy battle in the late 1980s and ousted their father, who committed suicide in 1999. In 1990, Eva Shoen, the wife of another son of Leonard’s, Sam Shoen, was murdered in Telluride, Colo. Sam had been aligned with his father in the battle for control of the company. Leonard publicly accused Mark and Joe of playing a role in Eva’s death. A paroled rapist later confessed to the crime, the Bloomberg report noted. Mark filed two defamation suits, including one against his father and another brother, Michael, but a Colorado court denied the motions on the grounds that Mark was a limited public figure and murder is a public concern, the Bloomberg article said.

Another sibling, Paul, sued Mark in 2002, questioning the deals through which he acquired the storage properties from Amerco and contending that the related-paety transactions harmed shareholders. The case was dropped in 2012, the Bloomberg report noted.

Sahm Adrangi, chief investment officer at Kerrisdale Capital Management LLC, told Bloomberg

“The sexy stuff is the lawsuits and fistfights in the boardroom. But it’s not relevant to U-Haul anymore. This company has had the same core management team for years.

(Source: Bloomberg, Dec. 5, 2013.)