Bill H. Gross

Bill Gross
Bill Gross
Born	William Hunt Gross; April 13, 1944 (age 82); Middletown, Ohio, U.S.
Occupation(s)	Investor, fund manager
Years active	1971–2019
Known for	Co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO)

William Hunt "Bill" Gross (born April 13, 1944) is a prominent American investor and former fund manager, best known as the co-founder of Pacific Investment Management Company, a leading global fixed income investment firm. He oversaw PIMCO's Total Return Fund (PTTRX), which managed assets worth $270 billion, before transitioning to Janus Capital Group (currently Janus Henderson) in September 2014. Gross concluded his active fund management career in 2019.

Early life and education

Born in Middletown, Ohio, Gross is the son of Shirley ( Tait), a homemaker, and Sewell Mark Gross, who worked as a sales executive for AK Steel Holding. His family heritage traces back to Winnipeg, Canada. Raised in the Presbyterian faith, he relocated with his family to San Francisco in 1954. Gross earned a psychology degree from Duke University in 1966 as an Angier B. Duke Scholar and was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.

Between 1966 and 1969, Gross served in the United States Navy as assistant chief engineer aboard the USS Diachenko, where he led SEAL missions during the Vietnam War. He left military service in 1970 decorated with combat honors and subsequently obtained an MBA from the UCLA Anderson School of Management in 1971. Additionally, he briefly engaged in professional blackjack playing in Las Vegas, utilizing gambling methodologies to enhance investment risk strategies.

In 2019, Gross revealed that he had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome.

Investment career

Holding the designation of Chartered Financial Analyst, which he earned while serving as an investment analyst at Pacific Mutual Life from 1971 to 1976, Gross was dubbed the "Bond King" by Fortune magazine in 2002. He co-established Pacific Investment Management (PIMCO) and led its Total Return fund—at one point the largest bond fund worldwide with nearly $293 billion under management—until his exit in September 2014.

During his tenure at PIMCO, Gross managed more bond assets than any other individual globally and provided advisory input to the U.S. Treasury on subprime mortgage securities amid the 2008 financial crisis. In recognition of his exceptional performance, Morningstar honored him as Fund Manager of the Decade for fixed income in 2010. His fund's returns were enhanced through sophisticated derivative strategies encompassing equities, bonds, loans, and foreign currencies. Ben Trosky, head of PIMCO’s high-yield bond division, acknowledged Gross’s expertise as a trader, analyst, and marketer.

Gross consistently outperformed market benchmarks by expertly navigating bond market elements such as credit quality, yield curves, maturities, and duration while accurately forecasting changes in interest rates and inflation trends. The Financial Times emphasized his pioneering role in active bond trading—expanding into high-yield bonds and emerging market debt—and leveraging PIMCO’s market position to negotiate advantageous terms.

After the collapse on Wall Street in 2008, Gross played a significant role as a financier supporting the Obama administration’s Public-Private Investment Program (P.P.I.P.), aimed at stabilizing financial institutions and stimulating economic recovery.

Reportedly strained relations with Pimco CEO Mohamed El-Erian contributed to El-Erian’s departure. Gross himself left Pimco late in 2014 and initiated legal action against Pimco and its parent company Allianz in 2015 seeking "hundreds of millions," claiming he was forced out due to executive greed and self-interest. The dispute was resolved in March 2017 with an $81 million settlement, which Gross committed to donating to charitable causes.

In the 1990s, Gross authored two investment books: Bill Gross on Investing and Everything You've Heard About Investing is Wrong! In September 2008, his funds profited by $1.7 billion through substantial holdings in agency-backed mortgage securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac following their federal takeover.

Gross retired from active fund management and Janus Henderson Investors in February 2019 to concentrate on managing his personal investments along with overseeing the $390 million William, Jeff and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation.

Personal life

Gross has entered into matrimony three times. His first marriage, to Pamela Roberts in 1968, produced two children, Jeff and Jennifer, before ending in divorce. In 1985, he wed Sue J. Frank, with whom he has a son named Nick; their divorce in 2018 was notably acrimonious. Both continue to own residences in Laguna Beach, California.

In April 2021, Gross married Amy Schwartz, a former professional tennis player whom he met in 2017. They reside in a 10,000-square-foot oceanfront estate in Laguna Beach called "Rockledge by the Sea," which was acquired for her and sold for $32 million in 2018, marking it as the third-highest-priced home sale in Orange County that year. Gross hosted Schwartz’s 50th birthday celebration at the property in 2019. Schwartz attributes her renewed enthusiasm for golf to Gross, a sport they often enjoy together.

A distinguished philatelist, Gross became the third individual by November 2005 to complete a collection of 19th-century U.S. postage stamps. That year, he acquired the unique plate block of the renowned 1918 24-cent U.S. "Inverted Jenny" airmail stamps for $2.97 million and subsequently exchanged it for a rare 1-cent 1868 "Z Grill," thereby completing his collection. Previous auctions of his British Commonwealth and European stamp holdings have yielded over $26 million. His American stamps and covers began appearing at auction starting October 2018.

On October 3, 2018, Siegel Auction Galleries conducted a sale of 106 items from Gross’s collection at the Lotte New York Palace hotel, generating $10 million and setting a new record for single-day stamp auction sales. Gross declared that the proceeds would be donated to Doctors Without Borders and the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund.

An enthusiastic amateur golfer, Gross has played alongside professionals such as Tiger Woods during the AT&T Pro-Am at Pebble Beach and has described golf as both thrilling and challenging.

In 2014, Gross was recognized among notable investors practicing Transcendental Meditation.

Although registered as a Republican, Gross contributed financially to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee in 2008.

In October 2020, Gross and Schwartz filed a lawsuit against their Laguna Beach neighbor Mark Towfiq for invasion of privacy and harassment after he allegedly installed surveillance cameras aimed at their property and engaged in voyeuristic behavior. Towfiq counterclaimed, alleging harassment by them through loud outdoor playing of the "Gilligan's Island" theme song following his objections to a Dale Chihuly sculpture on their lawn obstructing his view. Gross explained that the song held personal meaning rather than serving as harassment; Schwartz described the sculpture as spiritually significant. Ultimately, the Orange County Superior Court prohibited Gross and Schwartz from playing music outdoors when they were not physically present outside.

Wealth and philanthropy

In 2005, Gross made a $23.5 million donation to Duke University, with $20 million dedicated specifically to financial aid programs. The following year, he contributed $9.1 million—proceeds from selling his British philatelic collections—to Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières, becoming their largest benefactor with donations totaling approximately $25 million over time. His Scandinavian and Finnish stamp collections were auctioned in 2008 to support Columbia University’s Jeffrey Sachs Millennium Villages Project. Additionally, Gross donated $20 million to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian aimed at women's health initiatives and $10 million to University of California, Irvine to establish a stem cell research center.

In 2012, he gifted $20 million to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for the creation of the Sue and Bill Gross Surgery and Procedure Center, which opened its doors in 2013. The next year, Gross donated another $20 million to Mercy Ships for constructing the hospital ship Global Mercy, complementing their existing vessel Africa Mercy.

Gross pledged $40 million in 2016 toward founding a nursing school at University of California, Irvine. The Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s William H. Gross Stamp Gallery—the largest philately gallery globally—was established with an $8 million gift from Gross in 2009, partially funded through sales of his Civil War and British North America postal history collections.

In 2018, he founded the William, Jeff and Jennifer Gross Family Foundation alongside his son and daughter to streamline philanthropic efforts. This foundation donates over $20 million annually and contributed more than $1.5 million toward coronavirus relief efforts in 2020.

On January 26, 2020, Gross became a signatory of the Giving Pledge, committing himself to donate the majority of his fortune.

Publications and works

Everything You Thought You Knew About Investing Is Incorrect! (1997), Crown Business
Bill Gross on Investment Strategies (1998), Wiley

External links