Shalett, Michael Reilly and Howard didn't return messages seeking comment. James Reilly couldn't be reached.
"The high turnover rate (relative to competitors) will make the product even more difficult to sell," Roger Smith, a Macquarie USA analyst, wrote in a February research note.
Kraus dismissed concerns that the personnel changes will affect fund sales, saying that the senior people who left had either been reassigned or given different responsibilities prior to their departures.
"Of those who left, we knew we were taking some risk," he said.
AllianceBernstein LP is majority-owned by French insurer Axa SA. The firm earned $427.1 million in 2010, a decline of 26% from the previous year. Revenue climbed 1.4% to $2.95 billion.
Better With Bonds
AllianceBernstein's large-cap equity funds continue to struggle. Its large-cap international and U.S. strategies rank in the bottom 5% of peers over the past three years, according to data from eVestment Alliance, an Atlanta-based researcher that tracks the performance of money managers serving institutional clients.
AllianceBernstein has fared better with bonds. Its bond funds beat 68% of peers over the past year and 50% over three years, Lipper data show. The company's global high- yield products beat 76% of rivals in the three years ended Dec. 31, eVestment numbers show.
"We continue to see a healthy pipeline in fixed income," Steyn, the operating chief, said in his presentation last month.
AllianceBernstein managed $206 billion in bonds at the end of 2010, up 26% from the end of 2008, regulatory filings show. Equity assets fell 16% to $219 billion in the same period, even as the S&P 500 gained 39%.
Cogent Survey
Investors pulled $56.2 billion from the company last year, down from $69.7 billion the year before. Withdrawals were $1.4 billion in January, the company said in a conference call with investors in February. Redemptions continued in February, the company said, without providing details.