Bill Gross, co-founder of Pimco and manager of the world’s biggest bond fund is the subject of a scathing article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal.

Is the bond king a dictator?

Bill Gross, co-founder of Pimco and manager of the world’s biggest bond fund (PTTRX ) became the subject of a scathing article on the front page of the Wall Street Journal Tuesday.

The 69-year-old billionaire investor is known for being praised by the media as one of the most influential players on Wall Street, with investors around the world listening for his views on financial markets and the economy. But the Wall Street Journal article sheds a different light on Gross, and the factors that may have led to the resignation of Pimco CEO Mohamed El-Erian .

Mr. Gross by his own admission, a demanding boss had long showed respect for Mr. El-Erian and indicated that the younger man eventually would take over the world’s biggest bond firm, the WSJ story said. But one day last June, the two men squared off in front of more than a dozen colleagues amid disagreements about Mr. Gross’s conduct, according to two people who were there.

The article went on to cite two witnesses who were there during the conversation saying that Gross highlighted his 41-year track record of investing excellence, and asked El-Erian what he had to show.

In response, El-Erian reportedly told Gross he was tired of cleaning up your s—.

The colorful article, which cites a number of individuals close to both men, along with former Pimco employees, says the rising tension between the two executives was among the chief reasons for El-Erian’s sudden departure.

The villainous portrayal of Gross became a hot topic on Twitter, with opinionated and successful venture capitalist Marc Andreessen  coming to the defense of Gross’ management style in a dozen consecutive tweets.

While the Silicon Valley heavyweight admitted he doesn’t know Gross and doesn’t work with him, he said the behavior described is completely typical of any highly-successful, high-functioning organization in any field I’ve ever seen.

6/High-functioning business organizations arent Disneyland. Theres always stress, conflict, argument, dissent. Emotion. Drama.

Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) February 25, 2014

Andreessen went on to say after reading the Journal story, he thought to himself, Boy, that sounds like Apple (AAPL ), Oracle (ORCL ), Intel (INTC ), Google (GOOG ), Amazon (AMZN ) and Microsoft (MSFT ).

12/To quote Jim Barksdale, This isnt a family and I aint your daddy. But together we can build great things & make our grandkids proud.

Marc Andreessen (@pmarca) February 25, 2014

Others had a similar sentiment, with one trader recalling that the late Apple CEO Steve Jobs was also known for his brash personality.

Bill Gross seems like a bond market version of Steve Jobs. Not uncommon for talented people to be short-fused.

Jesse Livermore (@Jesse_Livermore) February 25, 2014