Billionaire bond manager Bill Gross sold a portion of his stamp collection for $4.5 million and will donate some of proceeds to the foundation he created at his former employer, Pacific Investment Management Co.
Gross, who now co-manages the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund, will give $2 million to the Pimco foundation, according to a statement Wednesday. Gross left Pimco in September 2014 amid a public falling out with other managing directors and lagging results at his Pimco Total Return Fund. The money manager is suing Pimco, claiming he was ousted so that the firm wouldn’t have to pay him his $200-million cut of the bonus pool — a claim Pimco denies.
“I have a special affection for the Pimco Foundation, which I co-founded in 2000 and 100 percent funded for its first two years,” Gross said in the statement. “Irrespective of my current employment status, I am still a firm believer in the Pimco Foundation’s mission to help people around the world reach their full potential by engaging, empowering and investing in communities.”
The stamp collection was purchased by a private collector. Several other charities will also receive some of the proceeds, including the New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, Kershaw’s Challenge and the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, according to Charles Shreve of Robert A. Siegel International, who brokered the sale.
“The Pimco Foundation appreciates the donation from Sue and Bill Gross,” Sarah Middleton, executive director of the foundation, said in a statement. “These donations serve to improve local and global communities and help empower others to better their lives through our various giving mechanisms, such as our Grants Program, Innovation Fund, and more.”
The sale included a block of six “Double Geneva” stamps from 1843, among the most iconic and famous of any stamps in the world, according to the statement. The block of stamps sold for $121,800 in 1964. Part of Gross’s stamp collection is also exhibited at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington.
