William H. Gross, the billionaire “King of Bonds,” has never been reluctant to give advice.
He has written two books on investing as well as numerous op-ed pieces on the markets. And he’s usually available for interviews on matters economic.
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Now, according to The New York Times, Gross is offering his advice to the U.S. Treasury.
Gross says that he and his colleagues at Pacific Investment Management Company (Pimco) will evaluate the distressed mortgage securities the government will buy if a $700 billion bailout plan is approved by Congress.
“I’d even be willing to say that if the Treasury wanted to use our help, it would come, you know, free and clear,” said Gross, who is Pimco’s founder and co-chief investment officer.
It’s a little unlikely that Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. will take Gross up on the offer as Pimco might be seen as having a conflict of interest even if it doesn’t charge for its services.
But there’s a good chance that any advice Pimco gave would have to be taken seriously, as the company has managed to remain relatively unscathed by the mortgage and credit crisis.
Gross had argued for more than a year that the bubble was going to burst.
And Pimco was so well positioned when the government stepped in that it made $1.7 billion when Treasury saved the mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Though, on the down side, Pimco was a large holder of bonds at the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers.
Gross, 64, has long shown an ability to beat the odds. After his graduation from Duke University he spent a summer in Las Vegas playing blackjack. Starting with $200, he ended up with $10,000.
After that summer, he served on a U.S. Navy destroyer off the coast of Viet Nam. Following his discharge, he earned an MBA at the University of California at Los Angeles.
He then went to work for Pacific Mutual Life as an investment analyst.
In 1982, Gross founded Pimco. The company now manages $830 billion, including $132 billion in the Pimco Total Return Fund, the world’s biggest bond fund.
Gross has invested a significant portion of his own money in stamps, collecting rare issues.
Last year, he raised $9.1 million for the charity Doctors Without Borders by selling some of his some of his British stamps at auction.
The amount raised represented an astonishing return on investment, as Gross had spent a total of $2.5 million for the stamps between 1998 and 2001.
“It’s four times profit,” Gross said after the auction. “It’s better than the stock market.”
Gross will sell more of his stamps at auction on Oct. 3. The 138 British Empire stamps are estimated to bring at least $1.25 million. Gross and his wife, Sue, will donate the proceeds to the Millennium Villages Project.
The couple has also donated millions of dollars to various causes through the California-based William and Sue Gross Foundation.