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Bill Gross is retiring with a $1.5 billion net worth - see how the 'Bond King' spends his fortune, from a $1.3 billion divorce to a massive real-estate portfolio
Bill Gross is retiring with a $1.5 billion net worth - see how the 'Bond King' spends his fortune, from a $1.3 billion divorce to a massive real-estate portfolio
Gross, 74, is retiring from the financial industry he worked in for more than 40 years, according to a February 4 announcement. In 1971, Gross co-founded Pimco, where he served as the firm's managing director and chief investment officer. In 2014, he joined global asset management firm Janus Henderson.
During this time, Gross amassed a fortune that was worth at least $2.5 billion at one point. After finding himself embroiled in a nasty divorce, his net worth dropped to an estimated $1.5 billion - but that's nothing to scoff at.
Aside from the $1.3 billion that went to his now-ex-wife Sue Gross post-divorce, Gross has dropped a large chunk of his fortune on two things: real estate and philanthropy.
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Throughout the years, Gross has purchased a series of homes along California's coast, namely in Laguna Beach, creating an impressive real-estate portfolio. Equally impressive is the $700 million he's donated to charity - and that doesn't even scratch the surface, seeing as he plans to focus on working with charitable organizations during retirement.
Gross cofounded investment management firm Pimco in 1971. The firm would grow to reach a peak of $2 trillion in assets under management, and Gross's personal bank account grew with it.
Some of Gross's fortune is invested in the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, as well as closed-end municipal bond funds and stocks in Procter & Gamble Co. and Johnson & Johnson.
The Grosses acquired quite the collection of heirlooms during their marriage, including antique clocks, luxury cars, and a $56 million art collection — half of which Sue received in the divorce.
Gross purchased a 13,819 square-foot property in Laguna Beach's Irvine Cove back in 1988. While it's unknown how much he paid for it, it has six bedrooms and eight bathrooms.
Gross also owns a compound in Indian Wells, California. He reportedly purchased a lot there for $2.5 million in 1995 and built a 11,316 square-foot mansion with an infinity pool.
In 2002, Gross reportedly paid $20 million for a mansion on 17 Mile Drive in Pebble Beach, California. He later sold it for $16.5 million, suffering a $3.5 million loss.
In 2014, he bought two houses across the street and next door to his Irvine Cove mansion for $19.8 million and $16 million, respectively — a total of $35.8 million, all in cash.
In 2018 during the divorce, Gross and Sue separately spent nearly $150 million buying four homes in Laguna Beach over the course of one month in a bidding war, bringing their total home count in the area up to seven.
Gross paid $32 million for a house on the Pacific Coast Highway and $36 million for a 5,500 square-foot oceanfront house in Laguna Beach's Irvine Cove. It was the third-highest price ever paid for a single home in Orange County.
Gross is also an avid stamp collector. He's spent as much as $3 million collecting every stamp produced by the US from 1847 to 1869, and some of his collections have sold for up to $500,000.
Gross was once a professional blackjack player. He turned $200 into $10,000 after a four-month stint in Vegas. It paid for his UCLA business school tuition.
He mostly donates through the Sue and Bill Gross Foundation, which supports healthcare, medical research, and education. The foundation donated more than $21 million in 2018.
Much of his donation go towards health: $20 million to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, $20 million to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, $20 million to medical charity Mercy Ships, and $10 million to Mission Hospital in Laguna Beach.
The William and Sue Gross Family Foundation committed $40 million toward establishing the Sue and Bill Gross School of Nursing at the University of California.
