Pimco Prepares for Life After Bill Gross

Pacific Investment Management Co. is becoming less dependent on Bill Gross, its 69-year-old co-founder, as it prepares for an eventual future without him. Gross, who started the firm in 1971 with two others, has become almost synonymous with Pimco over the past four decades, earning the nickname “The Bond King.” The $2 trillion firm is grooming younger managers and venturing into equities as investors move beyond traditional U.S. bond funds to capture higher returns. “Pimco has tried to downplay Gross and build an institutional brand,” says Burton Greenwald, an industry consultant in Philadelphia. “If your appeal is based on a single personality, your assets are at risk.”