Bill Gross, the legendary fund manager known as the bond king, is retiring from Janus Henderson Investors to focus on managing his personal assets and his charitable foundation.
Gross, 74, plans to leave Janus on March 1, according to a statement Monday from the firm. Nick Maroutsos, co-head of global bonds at Janus, will replace Gross as portfolio manager of the firm’s global unconstrained bond funds on February 15 to assist with the transition of his responsibilities to the global macro fixed-income team.
“I’ve had a wonderful ride for over 40 years in my career,” Gross said in the statement. “I’m off – leaving this port for another destination with high hopes, sunny skies, and smooth seas!”
Gross co-founded Pacific Investment Management Co. in 1971 and worked at PIMCO for more than four decades before joining Janus in 2014. Gross also oversees the William, Jeff, and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation, which has $390 million of assets and last year donated to non-profits including Doctors Without Borders and the Children’s Hospital of Orange County.
“I look forward to continuing to work with my son Jeff and daughter Jennifer in identifying and supporting worthy and important causes that are creating better lives locally and around the world,” Gross said.
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The unconstrained strategy managed by Gross has underperformed its 3-month Libor benchmark since he joined Janus, according to the statement. But “nominal performance has been positive over the time period,” the firm said.
Janus’s global unconstrained bond funds in the United States and Ireland will be renamed Absolute Return Income Opportunities, according to the asset manager, which said there will be no change to their investment objective or guidelines.
Meanwhile, Gross’s total return strategy has outperformed its U.S. aggregate benchmark by 89 basis points, net of fees, through the end of last year, according to Janus.
Gross had abruptly left PIMCO amid internal tensions while serving as chief investment officer of the Newport Beach, California-based firm. In 2015, Gross filed a lawsuit over his ouster.
PIMCO, now led by chief executive officer Emmanuel Roman, settled in 2017. The asset management firm and Gross said in a joint statement at the time that any proceeds from the suit would be donated to charity.
“Bill is one of the greatest investors of all time and it has been my honor to work alongside him,” Dick Weil, CEO of Janus, said in Monday’s statement. “I want to personally thank him for his contributions to the firm.”
