Bill Gross, who built his Pimco into the world's largest bond investor and wielded outsized influence for years in the markets, is leaving the firm for rival Janus Capital group.
The move, announced by Janus Friday, leaves Pimco, which until recently managed $2 trillion in funds, without either of the two men who built its huge success over that past two decades.
Gross's partner Mohammed El-Erian left in January following an acrimonious spat over investment policy and the company's poor performance in the 2013 debt market that caused investors to begin to pull out billions.
It also comes two days day after reports said the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Pimco, formally named Pacific Investment Management Company, over whether it artificially pumped up the returns of a popular fund managed by Gross.
At Janus Gross will join a team focused on global asset allocation and manage a recently launched fund, the Janus Global Unconstrained Bond Fund.
"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.
Pimco, owned by German financial services giant Allianz, was co-founded by Gross and two others in 1971 and built one of the strongest investment records in the bond fund management business.