WSJ: Bruce Sherman Retiring from Private Capital

(Reuters) – Private Capital Management co-founder Bruce Sherman, whose bad bets on the media industry led to pressures on his firm’s parent, Legg Mason Inc (LM.N), is retiring at the end of the month, the Wall Street Journal said.

Sherman made prescient calls on Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) before its stock soared 2,000 percent in the late 1990s and he bought shares in Apple Inc (AAPL.O) before the iPod made the company a star again.

But massive bets in recent years on U.S. media didn’t pay off, and clients left Private Capital in droves.

Sherman told the paper that the decline in assets “had nothing to do with the decision” to retire. (Reporting by Ajay Kamalakaran in Bangalore, editing by Will Waterman)