Mary Childs: The Rise and Fall of the Bond King

Our guest this week is Mary Childs. Mary is a cohost and correspondent for National Public Radio's Planet Money. Previously, she was a reporter at Barron's magazine and before that, a reporter at the Financial Times and Bloomberg News. She received her bachelor's degree in business journalism from Washington & Lee University. Mary is the author of a new biography about the iconic Pimco bond fund manager, Bill Gross. It's called the The Bond King: How One Man Made a Market, Built an Empire, and Lost It All. We spent this episode delving into the book with Mary's help.

Background

Bio

Planet Money podcast

The Bond King: How One Man Made a Market, Built an Empire, and Lost It All, by Mary Childs

Pimco Total Return Analyst Report

Early Life and Career

Beat the Dealer, by Ed Thorpe

“The Strange Billionaire Who Revolutionized the Bond Market,” by Greg Rosalsky, npr.org, March 15, 2022.

“Bill Gross Made the Bond Market What It Is Today,” by Mary Childs, barrons.com, Feb. 8, 2019.

Psychology and Motivations

Jeffrey Gundlach

“Gross Friendly to Fannie and Freddie,” by Bloomberg News, investmentnews.com, Oct. 31, 2011.

“Pimco Shook Hands With the Fed—and Made a Killing,” by Reuters, cnbc.com, Sept. 27, 2013.

“Special Report—The Twilight of the Bond King,” by Jennifer Ablan and Matthew Goldstein, reuters.com, Feb. 9, 2012.

“Announcing the Morningstar Fund Managers of the Decade,” by Karen Dolan, Morningstar.com, Jan. 12, 2010.

“Fall of the Bond King: How Gross Lost Empire as Pimco Cracked,” by Mary Childs, Bloomberg.com, Dec. 2, 2014.

“Inside the Showdown Atop Pimco, the World’s Biggest Bond Firm,” by Gregory Zuckerman and Kirsten Grind, wsj.com, Feb. 24, 2014.

“Pimco Dissidents Challenge Bill Gross in ‘Happy Kingdom,’” by Mary Childs, Bloomberg.com, July 8, 2014.

“Gross: Economy Can’t Survive Much Higher Rates,” keynote presentation at the Morningstar Investment Conference, Morningstar.com, June 25, 2014.

Gross’ Departure From Pimco

Mohamed El-Erian

“Exclusive: Pimco’s Gross Declares El-Erian Is ‘Trying to Undermine Me,’” by Jennifer Ablan, reuters.com, March 6, 2014.

“5 Years Later: Pimco Total Return,” by John Rekenthaler, Morningstar.com, June 26, 2018.

“Pimco in the Post-Gross Era,” by Eric Jacobson, Morningstar.com, Dec. 26, 2017.

“Gross Loses Pimco Power Struggle