美國債券之王一年價值3億美元
Was Bill Gross worth $300m a year?
比爾格羅斯(Bill Gross)一年價值3億美元？
This emerges as the central question in his explosive lawsuit against Pimco, in which the famed bond investor invites readers to see the events leading up to his exit from the asset manager as a fight over its outsize bonus pool.
這是格羅斯令人震驚地起訴美國太平洋投資管理公司(PIMCO)的案件中的核心問題——在該案中，這位著名的債券投資者希望讓讀者明白，導致他離職的事件其實是一場圍繞超大規模獎金池的爭鬥。
Mr Gross’s entitlement to a 20 per cent slice of the pool, which totalled $1.3bn in 2013 and almost as much again last year, inspired jealousy among underlings and ultimately led them to plot to oust him, the suit contends.
格羅斯在起訴書中表示，他有資格分得獎金池中20%的份額讓下屬感到嫉妒，最終導致他們策劃陰謀趕走了他。2013年的獎金總額爲13億美元，去年也達到差不多的規模。
Mr Gross says that the division of spoils was “consistent with his skill and reputation” and while younger executives were pulling in hundreds of millions of dollars of fees for Pimco, it was from new kinds of investment vehicles that Mr Gross thought might not survive a future financial crisis.
格羅斯表示，當年的獎金分配與“他的技能和聲譽相符”，儘管較爲年輕的高管們爲PIMCO賺取了數億美元的手續費，但他認爲，這些收入來源於新型的投資工具，它們可能撐不過未來的金融危機。
The lawsuit, which alleges constructive termination and demands more than $200m in damages, shines a public light for the first time on the scale of the remuneration for Pimco’s top tier. These are bonuses that for years have generated envy and speculation, not just outside the asset manager but among staff not elevated to the inner circle.
格羅斯在訴狀中宣稱自己屬於“推定終止僱傭”（constructive termination，指僱員在僱主製造的敵意工作環境中被迫辭職——譯者注），並要求獲得逾2億美元的損害賠償金。該案讓PIMCO高層薪酬水平首次曝光於公衆面前。多年來，不僅僅是外界，那些沒有升至核心圈的員工也紛紛猜測這些獎金數量有多少，並感到嫉妒。
An elite group of 60 managing directors divide up the pool that is left after paying the rest of Pimco’s 2,400 employees and sending an agreed majority of profits to its German parent, Allianz.
在向PIMCO的2400名員工支付薪酬並按約定將大部分盈利上繳給德國母公司安聯集團(Allianz)之後，剩下的就是該公司的獎金，一個由60名董事總經理組成的精英集團將會分享這些獎金。
“Pimco is Wall Street-upon-Newport Beach,” says Charles Skorina, a headhunter for the asset management industry, referring to the California city where Pimco is headquartered. “You come here, you have good ideas, you prove yourself and you can make hedge fund-size money.”
資產管理行業的獵頭查爾斯斯科里納(Charles Skorina)表示：“PIMCO是新港海灘(Newport Beach)上的華爾街。你來到這裏，你有好的點子，你證明了自己，你就可以賺得對衝基金規模的錢。”新港海灘是PIMCO總部所在的加州城市。
Mr Gross was the driving force and the public face of Pimco’s rise to become the world’s biggest bond manager, managing $2tn in assets by 2013. Feted as the “bond king” for decades of successful bets on interest rates, he ran the Total Return Bond fund that was Pimco’s single largest product, with nearly $300bn under management.
格羅斯推動PIMCO崛起爲全球最大的債券管理公司，到2013年管理着2萬億美元的資產。他同時還是公司的門面。由於幾十年來成功地押注利率走勢，格羅斯被譽爲“債券之王”，他管理的Total Return債券基金是PIMCO最大的單一產品，規模近3000億美元。
But the backdrop to the rising tensions inside Pimco was a changing bond market landscape. Investors were questioning so-called “core bond” funds such as the Total Return Bond fund, fearing they would suffer if the 30-year bull market in bonds finally ended.
但PIMCO內部緊張氛圍加劇的背景是不斷改變的債券市場格局。投資者質疑Total Return債券基金等所謂的“核心債券”基金，擔心如果持續30年的債券牛市最終結束，這些基金將發生虧損。
Mr Gross says that he resisted diversification efforts, saying Pimco should stick to “bonds and burgers” rather than trying to offer a “cheesecake factory” menu of riskier products.
格羅斯表示，他抵制了業務多元化努力，稱PIMCO應該堅持“債券和漢堡”，而不是嘗試提供較高風險產品的“奶酪蛋糕工廠”。
But inflows into other funds, such as those which took on more credit risk, had already shifted the balance of power at Pimco. Core bond strategies had gone from being three-quarters of its assets a decade earlier to less than one-third, according to executives in 2014, and newer products generated higher fees.
但資金流入了那些承擔更大信用風險的其他基金，這已經改變了PIMCO內部的實力平衡。高管們在2014年表示，核心債券策略基金佔其資產比例已從十年前的四分之三降至不足三分之一，而較新的產品賺取了更高的手續費。
This was especially true of the mortgage, real estate and private equity funds run by Dan Ivascyn who, Mr Gross’s lawsuit alleges, began to urge that “contrary to Pimco’s decades-old structure, compensation should be allocated on the basis of each investment area’s relative profit. Conveniently, that move would result in far larger sums being paid to Ivascyn himself.”
由丹伊瓦辛(Dan Ivascyn)管理的抵押貸款、房地產和私人股本基金尤其如此。格羅斯在訴狀中聲稱，伊瓦辛開始主張，“與PIMCO實行數十年的結構相反，薪酬應該基於每個投資領域的相對利潤分配。便利的是，此舉將導致伊瓦辛本人獲得高得多的薪酬”。
Mr Gross also underperformed the industry in 2011 and 2013 after calling interest rates wrong, and money was flowing out of his fund — outflows that accelerated after Mohamed El-Erian, Pimco’s chief executive and co-chief investment officer, quit in January 2014.
格羅斯還在2011年和2013年判斷利率走勢出錯，業績弱於整個行業，資金從他的基金流出——在PIMCO首席執行官兼聯席首席投資者穆罕默德埃爾-埃利安(Mohamed El-Erian)於2014年1月辭職之後，資金加速流出。
Pimco said that it would defend itself and the suit had “no merit”. Mr Gross, meanwhile, is itching for a showdown in front of a jury. “It is important for him, as a matter of principle,” says Patricia Glaser, his lawyer. “In order to tell that story properly, Bill will have to take the stand, and Mr El-Erian will have to take the stand, and so will others.”
PIMCO表示將進行抗辯，稱這起訴訟“站不住腳”。與此同時，格羅斯渴望在陪審團面前攤牌。他的律師帕特里夏格拉澤(Patricia Glaser)表示：“這對他來說非常重要，這是個原則問題。爲了說清是非曲直，比爾將不得不出庭，埃爾-埃利安將不得不出庭，其他人也將不得不出庭。”
Ms Glaser refused to say how long ago she was approached to represent him, so it remains unclear whether Mr Gross began contemplating his legal action or if it was triggered by events since.
格拉澤拒絕透露格羅斯是多久前接觸她並讓她代理訴訟的，因此現在尚不清楚的是，格羅斯是一開始就考慮採取法律行動，還是後來的事件引發了此次訴訟。
The year since his exit has certainly provided more fodder for those debating whether Mr Gross was worth $300m per year to Pimco. His new fund for Janus Capital has attracted barely $700m in assets, much less than expected last September when Janus shares leapt 43 per cent on news of his arrival. A bout of underperformance in August means he is also losing money, down 1.87 per cent over one year and in the middle of the pack among similar funds, according to Morningstar.
對那些辯論格羅斯對PIMCO是否每年值3億美元的人來說，自他離職以來的那一年肯定提供了更多證據。他爲駿利資產(Janus Capital)發行的新基金僅吸引了7億美元的資產，遠低於去年9月的預期——當時駿利股價因他到來的消息而飆升43%。晨星(Morningstar)的數據顯示，8月份表現不佳意味着他還在虧錢，該基金淨值在一年多時間裏下跌了1.87%，位居同類基金的中游。
The Pimco Total Return Bond fund is up 1.54 per cent under new management, meanwhile, although it has halved in size because of client outflows on Mr Gross’s departure. Pimco’s group wide assets have shrunk from $2tn to $1.5tn because of the turmoil, but money continues to flow into many of its newer funds.
與此同時，PIMCO由新管理層運營的Total Return債券基金上漲了1.54%，儘管由於客戶因格羅斯離職而贖回資金，該基金規模減半。由於格羅斯離職風波，PIMCO整個集團的資產從2萬億美元縮減至1.5萬億美元，但資金繼續流入許多新基金。
The lawsuit contends that Pimco’s preeminence in bond investing is “largely due to Mr Gross’s reputation and track record”.
格羅斯在訴狀中主張，PIMCO在債券投資上佔有顯赫地位“在很大程度上得益於格羅斯的名聲和以往的記錄”。
How much of that value should accrue to Mr Gross is now a matter for the courts.
至於這種價值有多少應該歸屬格羅斯，現在是要由法庭裁決的問題。
