Janus' Bill Gross sells part of famed stamp collection

(Reuters) - Billionaire bond manager Bill Gross has sold part of his famed stamp collection for $4.5 million and will donate some of the proceeds to a philanthropic arm of his former employer, Pacific Investment Management Co, which he is now suing.

Gross, who left Pimco in September 2014 and is now a portfolio manager at Janus Capital Group Inc, will donate $2 million to the Pimco Foundation.

The rest will go to The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund; the U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network; and Kershaw's Challenge, set up by Los Angeles Dodgers baseball pitcher Clayton Kershaw and his wife Ellen.

Last October, Gross sued Pimco, a unit of German insurer Allianz SE and his employer for more than four decades, for more than $200 million, claiming he was pushed out so other executives could divvy up his bonus.

Pimco has denied his claims and said Gross' own behavior and treatment of colleagues would have justified his firing.

Despite the acrimonious dispute, Gross has pledged to keep supporting the Pimco Foundation, which he helped found.

He has said any proceeds from his lawsuit will go to charities, including the foundation.

Gross' sale included a block of six "Double Geneva" stamps from 1843 that could be worth as much as $1.5 million.

"The Pimco Foundation appreciates the donation from Sue and Bill Gross," Executive Director Sarah Middleton said in a statement, referring to Gross' wife. "These donations serve to improve local and global communities and help empower others to better their lives."

Gross works in Newport Beach, California, near his old office at Pimco, though Janus is based in Denver.

He is worth $1.95 billion according to Forbes magazine, and according to reports may have spent more than $100 million on his stamp collection. A stamp gallery is named for him in the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Alan Crosby)

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