The simple reason is because he ate 500 basis points:
…introspective mea culpas are perhaps cleansing but somewhat suspicious in nature. The purpose and even the author’s subjective assessment can always be legitimately questioned. But suspicions aside, let me begin by stating this: There is no “quit” in me or anyone else on the PIMCO premises. The early morning and even midnight hours have gone up, not down, to match the increasing complexity of the global financial markets. The competitive fire burns even hotter. I/ we respect our competition but we want to squash them each and every day. You the client have 100% of our attention as always, as do your portfolios…So where do we go from here? Our internal growth forecast for developed economies is now 0% over the coming several quarters and the portfolio more accurately reflects this posture. Yet even so, can the golden glove regain its magic? Well, as I’ve indicated,we’re showing up early every day at the ballpark – in this case for a little fielding practice.For someone who takes millions in salary, I would expect nothing less of him. But that's what world class really means. Some of you may talk trash about his poor performance this year (below the benchmark), but he is still managing the largest bond fund in the world. This shows that he is still world class.
And he is right. The global financial markets are getting more and more complex. The financial crises is going to wait for no one. As analysts (we are all analysts, in on way or another, as long as we try to think about this), we can't wait "until we are free" to begin analyzing what's going on. This means we have to make sacrifices.
In the case of Bill Gross, he even has to sacrifice is health. It may or may not be worth it, depending on which school of thought you are coming from. But I think I can relate to that a little bit. Of course I am far from being world class, but I can certainly relate to the "fatness" part because of the amount of hours I put in.
