This article may be written from a fan's point of view, rather than a neutral point of view .(October 2021) |
Bill Gross | |
---|---|
Born | William Hunt Gross April 13, 1944 Middletown, Ohio, U.S. |
Alma mater | Duke University (BA) University of California, Los Angeles (MBA) |
Occupation(s) | Investor, fund manager, and philanthropist |
Known for | Founding of PIMCO Managing the PIMCO Total Return Fund |
Spouse | Amy Schwartz Gross |
Children | 3 |
William Hunt "Bill" Gross (born April 13, 1944) is an American investor and retired fund manager, who co-founded Pacific Investment Management Co. PIMCO is a global fixed income investment company. Gross ran their $270 billion Total Return Fund (PTTRX), before leaving to join Janus Capital Group (now Janus Henderson) in September 2014. [1] Gross retired from active fund management in 2019. [2]
Gross was born in Middletown, Ohio, the son of Shirley ( née Tait), a homemaker, and Sewell Mark Gross, a sales executive for AK Steel Holding. [3] [4] Part of his family is originally from Winnipeg, Canada. [5] He was raised a Presbyterian. [6] He moved with his parents to San Francisco in 1954. [4] Gross graduated from Duke University in 1966 as an Angier B. Duke Scholar, and with a degree in psychology. [7]
At Duke, he joined Phi Kappa Psi. [8] He then served in the Navy from 1966 to 1969 as an assistant chief engineer aboard the USS Diachenko, leading several sorties of SEALs to landing sites along the coast of Vietnam. [9] He left the Navy in 1970 with the Tet combat and Vietnam active service ribbons. Gross earned an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1971. Gross briefly played blackjack professionally in Las Vegas, Nevada, and has said that he applies many of his gambling methods for spreading risk and calculating odds to his investment decisions. [10]
In 2019, Gross revealed his Asperger syndrome diagnosis. [11]
Gross is a CFA Charterholder, who earned his credentials while working as an investment analyst for Pacific Mutual Life between 1971 and 1976. [12]
Nicknamed the "Bond King" by Fortune magazine in 2002, [13] Gross managed one of the world's largest mutual funds, focusing mostly on bonds and fixed income investments. Called "the nation's most prominent bond investor" by The New York Times , [14] he co-founded Pacific Investment Management (PIMCO) and managed PIMCO's Total Return fund (once the world's largest bond fund with almost $293 billion in assets) [15] and several smaller funds until his departure in September 2014. [16]
At Pimco, Gross controlled more bond money than anyone in the world, and he advised the Treasury on the role of subprime mortgage bonds during the 2008 financial crisis. In naming Gross the Fund Manager of the Decade for fixed income in 2010, Morningstar said: "No other fund manager made more money for people than Bill Gross." [17] He was known for boosting returns in his funds partly by using complex derivatives based on stocks, bonds, loans, and currencies. [18] Ben Trosky, who created and ran Pimco's high-yield bond business from the 1990s through the early 2000s, told Barron's that Gross was, "a good trader, a good analyst, and a good salesman, able to distill complex ideas into something simple and accessible." [19]
Gross was able to beat the market for much of his career by exploiting the element of certainty, and mastering the element of uncertainty, according to a 2002 Fortune story, "The Bond King". Certainty for a bond investor like Gross included variables, such as credit ratings, yields, maturities, and duration, a measure of risk. The longer a bond's duration, the more wildly its price fluctuates when rates change, with cautious investors choosing shorter-term durations to limit price volatility caused by interest rate changes. Gross took advantage of uncertainty by making educated – but accurate – guesses on the direction of interest rates, inflation and other variables that affect bonds. [20]
The Financial Times wrote in March 2019: "Active, aggressive bond investing was Gross' big innovation. Historically, insurers and pension funds were the big buyers of bonds. They rarely traded — in fact bonds were typically kept in a vault, and selling meant physically mailing them to the buyer — and enjoyed cordial, clubby relationships with Wall Street. Pimco, on the other hand, actively traded in and out of positions, expanded assertively into hot new areas like junk bonds and emerging markets, and used its increasing clout to cudgel banks into giving them better bids." [21]
Following the collapse of Wall Street in 2008, Gross emerged as one of the nation's most influential financiers, and became among the most fervent supporters of the Obama administration's strategy (the Public-Private Investment Program, or P.P.I.P.) to enlist private investors to help bail out the nation's ailing banks and try to revive the economy. [22]
It was widely reported that the departure of Pimco chief executive Mohamed El-Erian was triggered by conflict with Gross. [23] [24] [25] Gross himself left late in the fall of 2014, and in October 2015 sued Pimco and parent company Allianz for "hundreds of millions of dollars," claiming that he had been pushed out by a "cabal" of executives "Driven by a lust for power, greed, and a desire to improve their own financial position and reputation at the expense of investors and decency," calling them out for "improper, dishonest, and unethical behavior". [26] Pimco settled with Gross in March 2017 for a reported $81 million, all of which Gross pledged to donate to charity. [27]
In the 1990s he authored two popular-market books on investing, Bill Gross on Investing and Everything You've Heard About Investing is Wrong! In September 2008, by holding large positions in agency-backed mortgage bonds of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Gross's funds netted U.S. $1.7 billion after the federal takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. [28]
He announced his retirement from Janus Henderson Investors and active fund management in February 2019. He said at the time that he would focus on managing his personal assets and private charitable foundation, the $390 million-asset William, Jeff and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation. [29]
Gross has been married three times. In 1968, he married Pamela Roberts. They had two children: Jeff and Jennifer. They later divorced. In 1985, he married Sue J. Frank; they have one son, Nick. [32] In 2018, they were involved in a contentious divorce. [33] Both own homes in Laguna Beach, California. [34]
Gross married former tennis professional Amy Schwartz in April 2021. [35] She met Gross through a mutual friend in 2017, and they now live together in a Laguna Beach oceanfront mansion he bought for her, and which she decorated with a "love" theme. [36] Named "Rockledge by the Sea" by a prior owner, the 10,000-square-foot home was the third-most-expensive home sale in 2018 in Orange County, California, at $32 million. The residence has 190 feet of ocean frontage, along with a private-access cove and beach. [37] Gross threw a 50th birthday party for Schwartz at the house in September 2019, featuring singer-songwriter and guitarist Kenny Loggins. [38] Schwartz credits Gross with renewing her interest in golf, which they frequently play together. [39]
Gross is a prominent stamp collector. [40]
As of November 2005, he became the third person (after Robert Zoellner in the 1990s and Benjamin K. Miller pre-1925) [41] to form a complete collection of 19th century United States postage stamps. In October 2005, he purchased at auction for $2.97 million a unique plate block of the famous 1918 24-cent U.S. airmail stamps known as the "Inverted Jenny", featuring an engraving of a Curtiss JN-4 biplane printed upside-down. He then traded the Inverted Jenny plate block to Donald Sundman, president of Mystic Stamp Company, a stamp dealer, for a 1-cent 1868 "Z Grill" depicting Benjamin Franklin (one of only two known to exist), thus completing Gross's 19th-century collection. [42] His collection will be auctioned over the next two to three years with the proceeds to be donated to charity. Prior auctions of Gross's Great Britain, British Commonwealth, Western Europe, Scandinavia, Confederate States, Switzerland and Hawaii stamp collections have generated more than $26 million in proceeds. [43] What remains of Gross's collection — the United States stamps and covers – were scheduled to begin being auctioned with the sale of United States Stamp Treasures on October 3, 2018. [44]
On October 3, 2018, Gross continued his formal exit from the market when Siegel Auction Galleries sold 106 of his pieces at the Lotte New York Palace hotel in New York City. The sale generated $10 million, breaking the $9.1 million record for a single-day stamp auction set in 2007. Continuing his tradition, Gross told Barron's that proceeds from the latest sale would go to Doctors Without Borders and the New York Times Neediest Cases, with more charities to be announced later. [45]
Gross is well known as a passionate amateur golfer. [46] In the foreword to former journalist David Rynecki's 2007 book, "Deals on the Green," Gross wrote golf was, "the most frustrating, damnable game ever conceived – alternately elevating and depressing you within the span of mere minutes. I love golf. No, I hate it." He has played in a foursome with Tiger Woods and other professionals at the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach, but wrote that even playing with Woods and earning tournament trophies, "can't compare to the exhilaration of the moment, the thrill of victory, and yes, the agony of missing a three-footer." [47]
In 2014 Gross was reported as one of a number of "prominent investors [who] have taken to Transcendental Meditation". [48]
Despite being a registered Republican, [49] Gross donated to both the Barack Obama presidential campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2008. [50]
In October 2020, Gross and Schwartz sued their Laguna Beach neighbor Mark Towfiq, accusing him of developing an obsession with them, which included installing cameras directed at their property and "peeping tom behaviors." In a request for a temporary restraining order, Gross said he felt "trapped in my own home," and added, "Defendant Towfiq appears to have a particular fascination not only with Mr. Gross but also Ms. Schwartz, particularly when the pair are swimming and thus wearing minimal, if any, clothing." The lawsuit accused Towfiq of invasion of privacy, among other causes of action. [51]
In a separate complaint filed after Gross and Schwartz's lawsuit, Towfiq accused the couple of harassing him by playing the theme from "Gilligan's Island" at loud volumes using outdoor speakers. [52] [53] According to Towfiq, the harassment began after he complained about a large Dale Chihuly statue on Gross' lawn that he said blocked his view even though the sculpture was installed against a side wall, which didn't block the view. [52] [53] In defense, Gross said that playing the theme from "Gilligan's Island" was not intended to be harassment, but that the song had special importance to him, while Schwartz contended that the artwork in question was so meaningful to her that she prayed to it. [52] [53] The Orange County Superior Court ultimately ordered Gross and Schwartz not to play music outdoors when they were not, themselves, outside. [54]
In 2005, Gross donated $23.5 million to Duke University, $20 million of which was set aside for financial aid. [55] In 2006, Gross donated to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières the $9.1m [56] that he earned from the auction at Shreves Philatelic Galleries of his British philatelic collections. [57] Over the years, Gross has become the largest donor in history to Doctors Without Borders at approximately $25m. His Scandinavian and Finnish stamp collections were sold by Spink auction house in May 2008 to make a donation to the Jeffrey Sachs Millennium Villages Project at Columbia University. [58] Gross also donated $20 million to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian for women's health and $10 million to the University of California, Irvine to fund a stem cell research center at its school of medicine. [59]
In 2012, Gross donated $20 million to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center (Los Angeles) for the new Sue and Bill Gross Surgery and Procedure Center, which opened in summer 2013. [60]
Also in 2013, Gross donated $20 million to Mercy Ships. This was designated to build a new hospital ship, the Global Mercy , [61] to join the existing hospital ship, the Africa Mercy , in delivering medical services to the poor. [62] [63]
In 2016, Gross donated $40 million to the University of California, Irvine to establish a nursing school. [64] [59]
Named after its primary benefactor, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum's William H. Gross Stamp Gallery is the world's largest gallery dedicated to philately. [65] Gross donated $8 million in 2009 to the National Postal Museum to create a 12,000-square-foot gallery. [66] Portions of the donation came from the proceeds of Gross's sale of his collections of civil war and British North America postal history. [67]
Gross formed the William, Jeff and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation in 2018 with his son and daughter from his first wife to coordinate his philanthropic activities. [68] The foundation donates more than $20 million annually, and gave more than $1.5 million in 2020 for coronavirus relief efforts. [69] [70] [71]
On Jan 26, 2020, Gross signed the Giving Pledge. [72]
The Inverted Jenny is a 24 cent United States postage stamp first issued on May 10, 1918, in which the image of the Curtiss JN-4 airplane in the center of the design is printed upside-down; it is one of the most famous errors in American philately. Only one pane of 100 of the invert stamps was ever found, making this error one of the most prized in philately.
War bonds are debt securities issued by a government to finance military operations and other expenditure in times of war without raising taxes to an unpopular level. They are also a means to control inflation by removing money from circulation in a stimulated wartime economy. War bonds are either retail bonds marketed directly to the public or wholesale bonds traded on a stock market. Exhortations to buy war bonds have often been accompanied by appeals to patriotism and conscience. Retail war bonds, like other retail bonds, tend to have a yield which is below that offered by the market and are often made available in a wide range of denominations to make them affordable for all citizens.
United States Treasury securities, also called Treasuries or Treasurys, are government debt instruments issued by the United States Department of the Treasury to finance government spending, in addition to taxation. Since 2012, the U.S. government debt has been managed by the Bureau of the Fiscal Service, succeeding the Bureau of the Public Debt.
Sotheby's is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and maintains a significant presence in the UK.
Pacific Investment Management Company LLC is an American investment management firm focusing on active fixed income management worldwide. PIMCO manages investments in many asset classes such as fixed income, equities and other financial assets across public and private markets. PIMCO is one of the largest investment managers, actively managing more than $2 trillion in assets for central banks, sovereign wealth funds, pension funds, corporations, foundations and endowments, and individual investors around the world. According to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, PIMCO is the 6th-largest asset manager in the world by managed AUM.
The Harvard University endowment, valued at $50.7 billion as of June 30, 2023, is the largest academic endowment in the world. Its value increased by over 10 billion dollars in fiscal year 2021, ending the year with its largest sum in history. Along with Harvard's pension assets, working capital, and non-cash gifts, the endowment is managed by Harvard Management Company, Inc. (HMC), a Harvard-owned investment management company.
Kenneth Cordele Griffin is an American hedge fund manager, entrepreneur and investor. He is the founder, chief executive officer, co-chief investment officer, and 80% owner of Citadel LLC, a multinational hedge fund. He also owns Citadel Securities, one of the largest market makers in the United States.
Robert D. Arnott is an American businessman, investor, and writer who focuses on articles about quantitative investing.
A stamp dealer is a company or an individual who deals in stamps and philatelic products. It also includes individuals who sell postage stamps for day to day use or revenue stamps for use on court documents. Stamp dealers who sell to stamp collectors and philatelists are of many kinds and their businesses range from small home operations to large international companies.
William Albert Ackman is an American billionaire hedge fund manager who is the founder and chief executive officer of Pershing Square Capital Management, a hedge fund management company. His investment approach has made him an activist investor. As of June 2024, Ackman's net worth was estimated at $9.3 billion by Forbes.
Mohamed Abdullah El-Erian is an Egyptian-American economist and businessman. He is President of Queens' College, Cambridge, and chief economic adviser at Allianz, the corporate parent of PIMCO where he was CEO and co-chief investment officer (2007–14). He was chair of President Obama's Global Development Council (2012–17), and is a columnist for Bloomberg View, and a contributing editor to the Financial Times.
Jeffrey Edward Gundlach is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the founder of DoubleLine Capital, an investment firm.
John Joseph Paul Studzinski, CBE is an American-British investment banker and philanthropist. Since September 2018 he has been Managing Director and Vice Chairman of the global investment-management firm PIMCO.
Gregory S. Zuckerman is a special writer at The Wall Street Journal and a non-fiction author.
Emmanuel "Manny" Roman is a French financial executive. He is the chief executive officer (CEO) and a managing director of PIMCO, one of the world’s premier fixed income investment managers, based in Newport Beach, California. In 2011, he was named by the Evening Standard as one of London's 1000 most influential people.
Royalty Exchange is an American company that operates an online platform for buying and selling royalty assets of any type, mostly music, where royalty owners can sell their future payments to investors as alternative assets. The company hosts a centralized marketplace and online auction platform that connects a community of over 22,500+ investors with owners of royalty-based assets.
Amy Schwartz Gross is a former American professional tennis player and amateur golfer. She played collegiate tennis at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida.
Sue Gross is an American billionaire philanthropist. She was formerly the President of the William and Sue Gross Foundation until creating the Sue J. Gross Foundation in 2017. Her net worth is estimated at $1.3 billion.
Douglas M. Hodge is an American businessman. He is the former CEO of Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO), the world's largest bond manager. He pleaded guilty in October 2019 to the felony of conspiring to commit fraud and money laundering. In February 2020 he was sentenced to nine months in federal prison, and to pay a $750,000 fine and serve 500 hours of community service, for his participation in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal.
DoubleLine Capital ("DoubleLine") is an American investment management firm headquartered in Tampa, Florida. It is known for its focus on investing in the bond market but also invests in other asset classes such as equities and commodities. The firm is majority owned by its employees.
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has generic name (help)The technique ... is popular with folks like Bridgewater's Ray Dalio (who offers TM to his 400 employees), Bill Gross, Dan Loeb, Nigol Koulajian (Quest Partners) and Kevin Kimberlin (Spencer Trask & Co).
And the billionaire and registered Republican agrees with Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez that the rich should pay more in taxes -- if not quite the 70 percent she's proposing at the margin.