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 Weekly financial magazine Barron's said on Saturday that Gross
decided to quit its Barron's Roundtable. Instead, Gundlach, who has
often been critical of Gross's investment calls, was added to the
panel - which meets at the beginning and middle of each year - and
he features prominently in the magazine's Roundtable latest cover
story published on Saturday.
Barron's Deputy Managing Editor Lauren Rublin told Reuters: "We
invited both Bill and Jeffrey to the Roundtable. Bill decided to
resign. We missed him."
She declined to comment when asked why Gross had quit and whether
Gross would have been aware that Gundlach had been invited.
In its Roundtable cover story, Barron's did not address Gross's
absence. It just mentioned him in reference to how his and other
2015 Roundtable members' investment recommendations performed.
E-mails and calls to Gross and a spokeswoman for Janus Capital
Group, where he is a portfolio manager, were not returned. Gundlach
declined to comment.
The twice-a-year discussions among the investors attending the
Roundtable, are turned into a three-part series in the magazine,
usually including staged pictures and front-page billing. Each
investor provides their predictions for the markets and the economy,
and highlights the investment ideas they think will make money.
Dow Jones says Barron's readership, which averaged 436,000 in the
third quarter of last year, has an average household net worth of
about $3 million. The chance to get extensive exposure to that
audience means that a place on the Roundtable is coveted by some
investors.
Gross, 71, joined Janus after his departure in September 2014 from
Pimco, the firm he co-founded and had built into a $2 trillion
powerhouse.
Barron's Roundtable veteran Scott Black of Delphi Management
confirmed on Friday that Gross was not at this week's Roundtable in
New York City. Black said about Gundlach: "He was very impressive
and he was very knowledgeable. I thought he was very smart and well
prepared."
In 2011, Barron's anointed Gundlach, 56, as the new "King of Bonds"
in a cover story.
LACKLUSTER RESULTS
Gross has posted lackluster results since going to Janus.
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The Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, which Gross began managing
in October 2014, had a negative return of 0.72 percent in 2015,
trailing 41 percent of its peers, according to Morningstar.
Gross's surprising exit from Pimco came after he had learned that
top executives at Pimco and Allianz SE, the German insurer that owns
it, had grown tired of his leadership and were weighing a change.
Gundlach's firm, DoubleLine Capital, is thriving on the back of a
number of very prescient investment calls.
Last year, Gundlach correctly predicted that oil prices would
plunge, junk bonds would live up to their name and China's slowing
economy would pressure emerging markets. In 2014, Gundlach correctly
forecast U.S. Treasury yields would fall, not rise as many others
had expected.
Back in 2014, Gross approached Gundlach and said he was about to be
fired by Pimco and broached the possibility of joining forces with
Gundlach.
Discussing their potential legacies, Gundlach said Gross at that
meeting spun an analogy to National Basketball Association star
players Kobe Bryant and the younger LeBron James. "I am Kobe. You
are LeBron James," Gross told Gundlach. "I have five rings, you have
two rings - probably going to five,” a reference to the number of
NBA championships the two players have each won.
Those discussions didn't lead to a partnership, and Gross instead
went to Janus.
(Reporting By Jennifer Ablan; Editing by Martin Howell)
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