One of Bill Gross' knights is leaving Camelot for a third time, less than a year after answering Gross' call to return.

On Friday Pimco chief investment officer Daniel Ivascyn confirmed that chief economist and managing director Paul McCulley is stepping down on February 28. Ivascyn's exit follows that of Gross himself five months ago. It also follows the news last week that Joachim Fels is joining Pimco in a role, managing director and global economic advisor, that sounds similar to McCulley's.

Bloomberg, Business Insider, the Financial Times, MarketWatch, the Orange County Business Journal, Reuters, and the Wall Street Journal all reported on McCulley's departure.

"Paul returned to PIMCO last May after being recruited by Bill Gross, with whom he had a close friendship and association for more than 20 years," Ivascyn states. "We understand and respect Paul's decision to step down. He is a great friend of our firm and our people, and we wish him great happiness going forward."

"I accepted this position, as I said at the time, to work side-by-side with Bill Gross, as economic counselor, doing the three things that I love: think, write and speak macro. My mission here is complete," McCulley states. "I will continue doing the things I love in other spaces, possibly in the academic arena. PIMCO will always be Camelot in my heart."

McCulley, now 57, first joined Pimco 25 years ago. Two years later, McCulley left for UBS. He first returned to Pimco in 1999, then retired at the end of 2010 at the age of 53. Gross brought McCulley back in May 2014, and then Gross himself rocked the financial services world by leaving Pimco for Janus in September. The fallout from that departure continues to be felt, at Pimco and elsewhere. 

Edited by: Neil Anderson, Managing Editor


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