Transcript: How Bill Gross Built a Bond Empire—Then Lost It All

For a long time, bond investing was considered a sleepy backwater. You bought a bond and just clipped coupons as you waited for it to mature. But then Bill Gross discovered that bonds could be traded. He founded Pimco and proceeded to make a lot of money from bond investing, sometimes in controversial ways. Bloomberg Opinion columnist Matt Levine co-hosts this special episode of Odd Lots with Mary Childs, who’s just published a book on Gross called, “The Bond King: How One Man Made a Market, Built an Empire and Lost It All.” We discuss some of Pimco’s most famous trades, whether Gross was a good investor and his legacy to the world of bonds. Transcripts have been lightly-edited for clarity.