The gregarious Larry Fink and the more reserved Bill Gross shared a stage Friday evening at the UCLA Anderson School of Management to sound off on events at home and abroad. The Los Angeles Times reported most comprehensively on the meeting of the bond investing gurus.

Fink, the founder of BlackRock Inc. [see profile] and Gross, the founder of Pimco [see profile], both sympathized with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which is currently into its second month.

"I'm actually very happy with Occupy Wall Street," said Fink, a lifelong Democrat. "I'm going to admit it as part of the financial community: We let down a lot of people."

"How can one not sympathize with their predicament?" Gross said. "To not have sympathy with Main Street, as opposed to Wall Street, that would simply be to have blinders" on.

However, the two differed on their overall outlooks. Gross said that growth in developed countries could be weighed down for years by debt problems in Europe and high unemployment in the U.S. Fink reportedly said he agreed "with almost everything Bill is saying, except my conclusions are generally less bearish than his."

Fundsters interested in reading more remarks by the two bond behemoths may want to check out coverage from AdvisorOne, Bloomberg and the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Edited by: Hung Tran


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