High-profile hedge-fund manager Steve Eisman is considering leaving his investment firm, a move that would complicate efforts by its owner, Wall Street bank Morgan Stanley, to spin off the business.

Eisman has talked recently with potential investors about managing money for them if he leaves the firm, FrontPoint Partners, according to people familiar with the matter. Since 2004, Eisman has overseen FrontPoint's wagers on financial-services companies, including a well-known bet against subprime mortgages that earned him and FrontPoint's clients huge profits in 2007. He manages about $1.3bn at FrontPoint.