Neel Kashkari, the wunderkind behind the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program, is leaving Pimco [profile] to consider a run for political office in California, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Pimco hired Kashkari in 2009 to help build up its equity business. The firm has launched six stock funds since then.

However, growing this side of Pimco has been slow going, according to data from Morningstar cited by the Journal. The six funds had about $3.6 billion from U.S. investors, according to research firm Morningstar, and $10 billion in all, according to Pimco, including money from institutions and foreigners that Morningstar doesn't tally. That is less than one percent of the $1.9 trillion that Pimco manages, according to the newspaper.

Moreover, the Journal notes that the performance of funds that Kashkari launched has been spotty. All six funds lagged behind benchmarks assigned by Morningstar in 2012, using the institutional class of shares as the metric. Kashkari has said that the funds were designed to limit downside risk and, as a result, tend to trail when the market is rising.

Kashkari has not specified which office he would seek. The Journal notes that the only state-wide job up for election in the near future is the governor's race in 2014.

To read more, go to the Wall Street Journal. 

Edited by: Tommy Fernandez


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