Janus Capital CIO On Working With Bill Gross

The Street was surprised when the legendary bond investor Bill Gross announced his departure from Pacific Investment Management Company, LLC (PIMCO), the firm that he founded and ran successfully for decades. However, the real surprise came when Gross announced joining Janus Capital Group Inc JNS, a firm almost 10 times smaller (in terms of assets under management) than PIMCO.

Gibson Smith, CIO at Janus Capital Management, was on CNBC to discuss about Gross’ entry into the firm and what difference it made for the firm.

Reaction On Finding Out That Bill Gross Was Joining Janus

"It was exciting. I was fortunate enough to have Dick Weil come and speak with me prior to the announcement and we spent some time together. Dick walked through the prospects of running two separate and distinct businesses and having this iconic investor joining us at Janus -- really exciting," Smith said.

When asked if it’s stressful having Gross around, Smith replied, "He is iconic, he is one of the best investors of all times, so, we greet him with open arms. It's a great opportunity for Janus, great opportunity for me and my team. I think this is exciting time."

What If You Two Have Different Views Over Something?

""Sure, and we may. We will be able to get on the phone and talk to each other about what we are thinking about markets, look at where we are different, communicate with each other, but we are running separate and distinct processes. We run a bottom-up fundamentally driven process, Bill runs a top-down macro based process."