NEW YORK (Reuters) — Mohamed El-Erian,
the former chief executive of Pimco, has taken to Twitter to express
his views to the world, but he said on Monday he wants to steer
clear of the drama surrounding his falling out with co-founder Bill
Gross for now.
In his first phone interview since leaving the world's largest bond
fund, El-Erian declined to discuss what he thought about reports
that a clash with Gross led to his resignation. He also would not
discuss Gross' comments questioning his investment record, or Gross'
allegation that he was trying to "undermine" him.
Sources close to El-Erian have said the 55-year-old executive was
sad about the turn of events that saw one of the strongest
partnerships in the investment world end abruptly.
Earlier this month, the sources said, he postponed his own farewell
party, suggesting to colleagues and friends that he did not want
things to become awkward for his guests, and out of respect for the
tense situation at Pimco.
The dispute at Pimco, which has $1.9 trillion under management and
is a unit of German insurer Allianz SE, comes at a time when the
firm is dealing with subpar performance.
Its flagship Total Return Fund, which Gross manages, trailed roughly
70 percent of its peers and saw $1.6 billion in outflows in
February, marking the 10th straight month of outflows, according to
investment research firm Morningstar. Last year, $41.1 billion left
the Total Return Fund.
El-Erian confirmed in the interview on Monday that he has joined
Twitter, using the handle @elerianm.
El-Erian said he created his account a while ago but "for a long
time, I just followed (people) and then, I decided, you know what,
let me try and see if I can contribute something."
"I couldn't do anything until this morning," El-Erian said.
Pimco's official Twitter account, which is often used by Gross, till
recently had both their pictures. But it has now been replaced by
the firm's logo.
Pimco, too, has had its own troubles with some tweets recently.
Earlier this month, Pimco deleted two tweets from Gross after being
challenged over his upside-down logic on China's efforts to suppress
its currency.
On Monday, El-Erian tweeted: "My first tweet. Please be patient with
me as I get familiar with tchnlgy as am starting virtually from
scratch. And pls excuse typos, Thanks."
El-Erian said, "I'm struggling with the technology. I had a friend
who came in and showed me, 'This is how you tweet'."
Business Insider earlier reported news of El-Erian's twitter
activity, which led to more than 8,300 followers by mid-afternoon.
