Billionaire investor Bill Gross slams Jeff Gundlach over shared 'Bond King' nickname: 'To be a bond king or queen, you need a kingdom'

• Bill Gross slammed fellow money manager Jeff Gundlach over his "Bond King" nickname.
• Both have shared the moniker as heavyweights of the fixed-income industry, but it hasn't sat well with Gross.

Billionaire investor Bill Gross fired shots at fellow money manager Jeffrey Gundlach, seemingly suggesting the latter wasn't worthy of the popular "Bond King" moniker that both share.

"First of all, to be a bond king or queen, you need a kingdom," Gross, co-founder of Pimco, said during a live episode on Bloomberg's "Odd Lots" podcast, implying that the pool of assets managed by Gundlach's investment firm - DoubleLine Capital - wasn't big enough to qualify him for the 'King' title.

"Pimco had $2 trillion, ok? DoubleLine's got like $55 billion. Come on — that's no kingdom, that's like Latvia or Estonia," he added.

Both Gross and Gundlach are big names in the fixed-income business, and have earned the "Bond King" nickname for their investment victories.

But it's not sat well with Gross.

Gross explained the root of their broil, dating it back to a time when - following his exit from Pimco - he asked Gundlach to work together. "I went up to his house and said 'Maybe I could work with you, we could be two bond kings,' Gross said, per Bloomberg. "And he trashed me for the next 12 months," he added.

"And look at his record for the last five, six, seven years," Gross continued. "I got you back, Jeff," he said.

"I don't think there could be another bond king," Gross said. "It was the function of a bull market for 30 years that was growing and Pimco was doing well," he added.