PIMCO still radiates Gross’s workaholic culture. On a recent visit to PIMCO’s headquarters, the trading floor was graveyard quiet. People who have worked for PIMCO say Gross prefers traders to swap electronic messages rather than speak – believing too much talk is a distraction. It’s not uncommon for PIMCO traders and portfolio managers, who start work at 4 a.m. Pacific time, to find a sheet of paper with their bond holdings circled by Gross himself, asking them to justify their trades. Gross’s temper has been known to flare at work, where he has slammed desk drawers in anger. He discourages employees from socializing and speaking with competitors, and once fumed at an employee for attending an industry conference: “I don’t want you to attend the conference, I want you to be a speaker at the conference.” [Reuters]
Bill Gross
And To The Employee He Saw Wearing A Name Tag, Exchanging Business Cards, And Sipping The Free Bottled Water Like Some Kind Of Common Noob: Your Days Are Numbered
By Bess LevinPIMCO Pantry’s Supply Of Gourmet Popcorn In The Garbage Can-Sized Tins Will Live To See Another Day
By Bess Levin
Bill Gross’s Pimco Total Return Fund, the world’s biggest mutual fund, attracted $231 million in investor deposits in January as performance rebounded. The new money ended three straight months of redemptions from Pimco Total Return, according to data compiled by Chicago- based Morningstar Inc. Investors pulled about $3 billion from the fund in the three months ended Dec. 31, bringing withdrawals last year to $5 billion, the research firm said. The $250.5 billion Pimco Total Return has advanced 2.4 percent this year, beating 99 percent of similarly managed funds, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. [Bloomberg, related]
As astute followers of PIMCO chief Bill Gross know, the bond manager often uses metaphors to explain various market behavior in his monthly Investment Outlook letter. In the past, he’s told us about why US policy makers are basically praying mantises in that they’ll bite your head off after sex, why this country is a patient waiting for a heart transplant, and why Congress reminds him a lot of Pepé Le Pew. Gross has also taken the opportunity to sprinkle in little personal details, including his pajama preference, his hatred for automatic flushers, a story about the time he acted like a cheap prick to a waitress (“A Gross family legend!”), and, of course, his inability to love the body god gave him. Most recently, Bill used the space to warn people that 2012 will be the year the markets will make you feel like lost your fucking mind. Continue reading »
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Communiqués
Bill Gross Would Have Beaten His Benchmark Had He Not Eaten Those 500 Basis Points
By Bess Levin
Several weeks back, bond manager Bill Gross wrote a very personal letter to investors about feeling fat. In it, he spoke of hating his “spare tire,” feeling self-conscious about wearing a bathing suit, and preferring to be shot dead than getting a glimpse of what his ass has become. Today, Bill sent out another letter, entitled “Mea Culpa,” in which he apologized to PIMCO investors for the poor performance of the firm’s Total Return Fund (which through Wednesday was up a mere 1.1 percent versus the 5.7 percent benchmark). And yet perhaps it is the investors who should be apologizing to Mr. Bill? Continue reading »
And he wants to talk about it. Continue reading »
As you may have heard, President Obama will unveil a jobs package tonight that expected total more than $300 billion. Some would say that’s a nice hefty number, one that indicates Obama is serious about getting the economy back on track. Others beg to differ. For example, Bill Gross. The PIMCO adviser is not impressed. “I don’t think $300 billion does it,” Gross said today in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Tom Keene. “I would like to see something bold.” Unfortunately, Gross didn’t detail what he would consider bold, leaving Obama to play mind reader. Continue reading »
The rivalry between two of the biggest names in the multi-trillion dollar global bond market, Bill Gross and Jeffrey Gundlach, has gotten more than just personal – after one appears to have claimed he was asked to take the other’s job…”PIMCO wants me to succeed Gross,” consultant Roger Brossy, in court testimony, recalled Gundlach saying in early 2009. And in a similar vein, Michael Conn, the executive assistant to TCW CEO Marc Stern, said in August 2009 that Gundlach remarked “that PIMCO would love to have him as a replacement for Bill Gross.” [Reuters]
Apparently they’ve been together for years? And say I love you though only because they have to? And are basically just fuck buddies but still apparently care enough to get upset and over-analyze the relationship to their friends? And sometimes China dresses up in leather and uses its 7 piece bondage kit on us? Continue reading »
Bill Gross Reminds Investors In His Underperforming Fund That He Gets Paid No Matter What
By Matt Levine
Yes, he knows he messed up: “Do I wish I had more Treasuries? Yeah, that’s pretty obvious.” And ranking 501st out of 589 bond funds this year because he overestimated the effects of QE2 affects him deeply and personally. But not financially:
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Just the teensiest little bit negative:
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Sayth Bill via the PIMCO Twitter feed (yes): “Not to rain on your parade but be leery of today’s exuberance.” [PIMCO via Heidi Moore ]
