Bill Gross Jumps Ship At Pimco Amid SEC Probe, Moves To Janus Capital Group Inc

Janus Capital Group Inc JNS gained more than 30 percent early Friday on news that Bill Gross will join the firm as an investment manager, Gross, 70, abruptly quit his post Friday as chief investment officer of bond-trading giant Pimco, shortly after news broke of that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating an exchange-traded fund managed by Gross. “I look forward to returning my full focus to the fixed income markets and investing, giving up many of the complexities that go with managing a large, complicated organization,” Gross said in a statement. Shares of Pimco's German-based parent company Allianz SE AZSEY fell 6 percent in early trading Friday. The SEC probe is focused on whether the Pimco ETF Trust BOND acquired assets at a discount and posted its value at full price, according to The Wall Street Journal. Pimco pegs the fund's assets at $3.6 billion. Pimco, which manages about $1.97 trillion, on Thursday confirmed the report and said it's cooperating with investigators. Pimco's co-chief executive, Mohamed El-Erian, quit earlier this year in another surprise move, saying he wanted to "spend more time with my family." Pimco at the time named Douglas Hodge as chief executive.