BILL GROSS TO EL-ERIAN: 'Hell No, You Can't Go'

YouTube/PIMCOPIMCO CIO Bill Gross.

Bill Gross, chief investment officer of PIMCO, told Bloomberg News in an interview that he was shocked and discouraged to hear that PIMCO CEO Mohamed El-Erian would be departing the firm in March.

PIMCO's parent company, Allianz, made the announcement yesterday. El-Erian will stay on as an adviser to Allianz after he leaves PIMCO.

Bloomberg News correspondents Sree Vidya Bhaktavatsalam and Alexis Leondis write:

Gross said he was shocked and discouraged when El-Erian told him several weeks ago that he wanted to leave to "recharge the batteries," write a second book and spend more time with his family. He, along with the firm's executive committee, tried to persuade El-Erian to change his mind, Gross said. El-Erian's "When Markets Collide: Investment Strategies for the Age of the Global Economy" came out in 2008.

"From our standpoint he was doing a great job," Gross said in the phone interview. "The Answer we gave him was basically, 'Hell no, you can't go.'"

Gross's comments perhaps dispel one popular theory surrounding El-Erian's departure - that the two didn't see eye to eye.