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
"Bond King" Bill Gross has an estimated net worth of $1.5 billion.
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.
Source: Forbes, Business Insider
In 1999, German insurer Allianz bought Pimco, and Gross began earning a $200 million annual salary. In 2013, he received a $290 million bonus.
Source: Bloomberg, Business Insider
In 2014, Gross left to join asset management firm Janus Henderson, where he managed a smaller portfolio of $1.5 billion.
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.
Source: Bloomberg
However, Gross used to be worth even more. His fortune reached $2.5 billion in 2017.
Source: Business Insider
A messy divorce with his wife, Sue, that went on for two-plus years, caused him to drop off The Forbes 400 in 2018.
Source: Forbes,
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.
Source: Business Insider, Forbes
This art collection included Picasso's "Les Repos," which sold for $36.92 million at Sotheby's auction house.
Source: Business Insider
But Gross's biggest collection is real estate.
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.
Source: Yolanda's Little Black Book
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.
Source: Yolanda's Little Black Book
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.
Source: Yolanda's Little Black Book
In 2009, he bought a bayfront home in Newport Beach for $23 million and tried to flip it. It reportedly sold for $20.8 million in April 2014.
In 2011, Gross bought Jennifer Aniston's Beverly Hills home for a reported $37 million.
Source: Business Insider
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.
Source: Yolanda's Little Black Book
He and Sue also owned a home in Corona del Mar and a condo in Park City, Utah.
Source: Business Insider
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.
Source: The Real Deal
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.
Source: The Real Deal, The Orange County Register
Sue was awarded a $70 million package of three homes they owned during their 30-year marriage, including their $36 million Laguna Beach house.
Source: The Real Deal, Forbes
He also plays golf, having played at The Vintage Club and Big Canyon Country Club.
Source: Business Insider
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.
Source: Business Insider
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.
Source: Business Insider, Reuters
But Gross has an even greater affinity for giving his money away. Bloomberg called him one of the world's biggest philanthropists.
Source: Bloomberg
He's donated as much as $700 million, and plans to donate his remaining billions. He told Bloomberg the amount was "staggering, even to me."
Source: Bloomberg
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.
Source: Bloomberg, Business Insider
Upon receiving $81 million in a settlement with PIMCO for wrongful dismissal, he donated the money to the Sue and Bill Gross Foundation.
Source: Forbes
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.
Source: Bloomberg
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.
Source: Los Angeles Times
Gross has also donated $23.5 billion to his alma mater, Duke University, for providing financial aid.
He's also given to arts and culture, donating $10 million to the Smithsonian Institution for a stamp-collecting gallery.
Source: Business Insider
He and Sue wrote anonymous $15,000 checks to workers laid off from NASA's Space Shuttle program in 2012.
Source: Business Insider
That's not to mention personal gifts he and Sue reportedly made toward American families in need.
Source: Bloomberg
Gross has also made worldwide charitable efforts. He worked with GiveDirectly, which donates to Africa's poor.
Source: Bloomberg
He also donated more than $19 million to the Millennium Villages Project, which focuses on the causes of extreme poverty in Africa.
Source: Inside Philanthropy
Gross says he plans to work with charitable organizations during his retirement.
Source: Business Insider
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