Bill Miller's 35-Year Tenure At Legg Mason Comes To An End

Stock guru and mutual fund king Bob Miller has left Legg Mason Inc LM. This comes on the heels of his acquiring a 100 percent stake in LMM LLC. He was already holding 50 percent stake.

Miller's 3 1/2 decades could be described as success to failure and return to success. He rose to be hailed as a genius until the Financial Crisis, although he rebounded strongly. At the height of the crisis in 2008, Value Trust and Opportunity Trust funds dropped 55 percent and 65 percent, respectively. The broader index dipped 38 percent.

Miller is running $1.3 billion Legg Mason Opportunity Trust apart from the Miller Income Opportunity Trust and Value Trust. At the end of July, LMM was managing $1.8 billion worth of funds.

Following is a timeline of his association with the company:

• 1981 – Joined Legg Mason as Director of Research
• 1982–85 – Co-managed Legg Mason Capital Management Value Trust
• 1986 – CFA designation
• 1991–2005 – Credited for exceeding S&P 500 returns for 15 straight years
• 1999 – Morningstar selects him as Fund Manager of the Decade
• 1999 – Barons called him one of the "Heroes of Value Investing"
• 2006–08 – LM's Value Trust underperformed the S&P 500 index
• 2009 – Value Trust outperformed the broader index
• 2010–11 – The fund underperformed again
• 2011 – Value Trust management shifted to Sam Peters, Miller's co-manager.

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