Michael Burry
Scion Asset Management
Profile & Investment Philosophy
Michael Burry is one of the most unconventional investors of his generation. In Q1 2026, he transitioned to his "Whale Fall" thesis, targeting fundamentally strong "boring" companies abandoned by AI-chasing capital. His concentrated portfolio features massive bets on PayPal, Adobe, and MercadoLibre, alongside contrarian stakes in Lululemon. Burry remains convinced that markets are frequently irrational in the short term, and that patience in deep value assets eventually yields outsized returns.
Track Record
Michael Burry founded Scion Capital in 2000 after leaving medicine. From 2000 through 2008 Scion delivered approximately 489% gross / 472% net versus the S&P 500's roughly 2% over the same period. He famously profited around $100 million personally plus $725 million for investors on the 2008 subprime short via credit default swaps. After closing Scion in 2008, he reopened as Scion Asset Management in 2013. The fund stays small — typical 13F AUM ranges from $50 million to $200 million — and Burry deliberately operates outside the institutional spotlight. Made famous beyond Wall Street by Michael Lewis's The Big Short and Christian Bale's film portrayal in 2015.
Signature Trades
Current Strategy (2026)
Burry's 13F filings through 2025 and into Q1 2026 show a sharp tilt toward China — Alibaba (BABA), JD.com (JD), and Baidu (BIDU) appear as core holdings, framed around valuations that price in worst-case decoupling. He also rotated into beaten-down names like Estee Lauder and Molina Healthcare. Hedges remain a recurring theme: small notional put positions appear most quarters. He shut down his X account in 2023 and communicates almost exclusively through quarterly 13Fs. Macro tweets when active leaned bearish on US equities, citing Shiller PE, margin debt and the AI-capex cycle. Position sizes are small in dollar terms — Scion is a research shop with limited capital, not a mega fund.
BMI Counter-Take
Burry is the smartest contrarian in the room and one of the worst-timed. The 2023 SPY/QQQ puts were intellectually defensible and immediately wrong. The China megacap thesis (BABA, JD, BIDU) looks correct on a 5-year view — these are cash-generating businesses trading at single-digit P/Es — but the execution risk and CCP overhang means the path is bumpy. BMI's view: copy Burry's research process, not his trades. He shows you the asymmetry; you size it for your own balance sheet. Following 13F filings means buying 45-day-old positions; for option positions the disclosure understates timing risk dramatically. Read his letters, not his Twitter screenshots.
Current Portfolio
LATEST 13F 2025-09-30Latest SEC Form 13F filing. Total portfolio value: $1.38 B. Holdings: 8 positions.
| Security | Type | Shares | Δ vs Prev | Value ($) | Portfolio % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Palantir Technologies Inc. | Put | 5.00 M | ★ NEW | $912 M | 66.0 % |
| Nvidia Corporation | Put | 1.00 M | ★ NEW | $187 M | 13.5 % |
| Pfizer Inc. | Call | 6.00 M | ★ NEW | $153 M | 11.1 % |
| Halliburton Co. | Call | 2.50 M | ★ NEW | $61.5 M | 4.45 % |
| Molina Healthcare Inc. | Common | 125,000 | ★ NEW | $23.9 M | 1.73 % |
| Lululemon Athletica Inc. | Common | 100,000 | -77.8% | $17.8 M | 1.29 % |
| Slm Corp. | Common | 480,054 | ★ NEW | $13.3 M | 0.96 % |
| Bruker Corp. | Common | 48,334 | ★ NEW | $13.1 M | 0.95 % |
SOURCE: SEC Form 13F (2025-11-03). BMI Smart Money Tracker.