VENTURE CAPITAL POST

Investors hope the Bond King can remake himself as a team player. Bill Gross last week abruptly left Newport Beach, California-based Pimco, the firm he built into a bond giant, to join Janus Capital Group (JNS.N), a small Denver firm that touts on its website how its friendly, team-oriented culture creates "strong collaborators."

Pacific Investment Management Co suffered a record $23.5 billion of withdrawals from its flagship Pimco Total Return Fund in September, with its largest daily outflow occurring on the day of Bill Gross's surprise resignation from the firm.

Bill Gross's exit from the investment firm Pimco had an immediate impact on the company, with investors withdrawing about $10 billion following the announcement, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.

For Bill Gross, quitting Pimco's $222 billion Total Return Fund to take over a $13 million fund at Janus Capital is like resigning the U.S. presidency to become city manager of Ashtabula, Ohio, population 18,800.

Bill Gross' abrupt departure from Pimco, the giant bond firm that he co-founded more than four decades ago, was preceded by months of clashes between the star investor and the firm's executive committee that got progressively worse, according to sources familiar with the situation.