Things Are Getting Ugly Between Bill Gross and Departing PIMCO CEO

by Christopher Freeburn | March 7, 2014 10:24 am

[1]A feud between Pacific Investment Management Co. (PIMCO) executives is being aired in the press[2].

According to Reuters, in a recent interview, PIMCO founder and co-chief investment officer Bill Gross claimed that he has evidence that CEP Mohamed El-Erian “wrote” an article run by the Wall Street Journal last month alleging tension between the two executives last year. Bill Gross said he was “sick” of El-Erian’s efforts to “undermine” him.

Reuters also says that Bill Gross admitted monitoring phone calls made by El-Erian. When Reuters requested a look at the evidence of El-Erian’s involvement in the Journal article, Gross is quoted accusing the news outlet of being on El-Erian’s side.

El-Erian will depart PIMCO later this month.

In a statement, PIMCO disputed Reuters account of the interview with Bill Gross, suggesting that the PIMCO co-founder had not accused El-Erian of writing the Journal article and had never indicated that he’d listened to El-Erian’s phone calls, though PIMCO did note that it maintains “records of its employees’ communications” for compliance reasons.

A spokesperson for Wall Street Journal publisher Dow Jones said that allegations that El-Erian had written the article in question were “astonishingly incorrect.”

PIMCO, which is owned by Germany’s Allianz SE, manages $1.91 trillion in assets. A legend on Wall Street, Bill Gross is often referred to as the “Bond King.”

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2014/03/things-getting-ugly-bill-gross-departing-pimco-ceo/

---