Jeffrey Gundlach is the founder of Doubleline Capital, an investment firm.
Education
He was formerly the head of the $9.3 billion TCW Total Return Bond Fund, where he finished in the top 2% of all funds invested in intermediate-term bonds for the 10 years that ended prior to his departure. Barron"s in a February 2011 cover story called him the "King of Bonds." He is a native of Amherst, New York and a graduate of Dartmouth College. He went to Yale University for a Doctor of Philosophy in theoretical mathematics before dropping out.
Career
He was fired by TCW in 2009. He was formerly co-manager of the $12 Billion TCW Total Return bond fund along with Philip Barach. On March 9, 2011, Gundlach was quoted on Consumer News and Business Channel that “Munis Are The New Subprime.” “You’ve got a history of low defaults, which is comforting.
But that kind of sounds like what subprime sounded like back in 2006,” Gundlach said.
Gundlach pointed out that even if defaults do not ultimately climb as high as critics like Meredith Whitney have warned, muni bonds will likely trade much lower. “Between here and the end game, lies the valley.
And the valley is full of fear. I think the muni market is going to go down by at least, on the long end, something like 15 and 20 percent,” he said.
Gundlach reportedly liquidated 55 percent of his personal holdings in municipal bonds on March 10, 2011.
However, the decline he predicted did not occur: on March 10, 2011, the Bond Buyer Index closed at 106.151904, with this index closing at 119.886063 12/30/2011 the last day of 2011 or an improvement of +12.9%. The index closed at 129.99416 on 12/31/012. At the time, Gundlach also stated: "Nobody owns California general obligation bonds because they think it"s an improving cr story," he said, drawing chuckles from the audience.
However, since March 2011, the ratings of California General Obligation bonds improved from Ato AAby Standard and Poors and from First Rate (at Lloyd's) to Aa3 by Moody"son
In 2012 he was included in the 50 Most Influential list of Bloomberg Markets Magazine. Some days after the theft, Gundlach added to a $200,000 "overall" reward a $1 million reward for the Piet Mondrian painting amongst the missing and a $500,000 reward for the Jasper Johns.
The total value of the stolen property was put at $10 million at the time. Within weeks, a tip led to the recovery of the art works and arrests of suspects in the theft.
The rewards—with the one for the Mondrian being termed a record for a single art work—were being said to have played a role in the recovery though no determination of payment had been made.
The Porsche was still missing. 2014 market outlook
2013 market outlook.
Membership
Jeffrey Gundlach founded Doubleline along with Philip Barach and 14 other members of Gundlach"s senior staff from TCW.