Michael Burry

Formal First Name

Michael

Nick Name

The Big Short Investor

Link

Dates

1971 - present

Location

Michael Burry is a renowned value investor, hedge fund manager, and strong advocate of fundamental analysis. He founded Scion Capital, a hedge fund he successfully managed during the 2008 Great Financial Crisis, generating billions in profits for his clients by accurately predicting the collapse of the American housing market. Burry is best known for his early and bold bet against the securitized mortgage market before its crash in 2007, which foreshadowed the Great Recession. He is also the real-life investor portrayed by Christian Bale in the 2015 film The Big Short, which dramatizes key figures involved in the subprime mortgage crisis.

Entity Types

Events

	2008 Financial Crisis
	Subprime Mortgage Crisis

Event Types

	Bubble
	Crisis

Strategies

	Fundamental Analysis
	Value Investing

Terms

Professional Experience

Academic History

MARKET FORECASTS

Burry was amongst the first investors to predict and profit from the subprime mortgage crisis that occurred between 2007 and 2010.
He also foresaw the failures of companies such as AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac.
He forecasted that the housing bubble would burst as early as 2007, and acted on his conviction by betting against subprime mortgages, using credit default swaps.
His investment style is firmly grounded in the principles of value investing, a strategy advocated by Benjamin Graham and David Dodd.

In 2000, Burry made a significant move by launching Scion Capital, his own investment fund. The fund's initial capital boost of $1 million came from Joel Greenblatt of Gotham Capital, who was an avid reader of Burry's blog.
The film "The Big Short" chronicled Burry’s successful 2008 stock market crash prediction. As the founder of Scion Capital, he foresaw the impending collapse of the housing bubble in the late 2000s, a calamity that significantly impacted the economy.
He rose to fame after he predicted the 2008 U.S. housing crash and managed to net $100 million in personal profits, and another $700 million for his investors with a few lucrative, out-of-consensus bets.
In 2008, Burry shut down Scion Capital to focus on his personal investments. In 2013, he incorporated Scion Asset Management, a private investment firm he still runs today.
Burry and his firm played a notable part in initiating GameStop’s widely publicized, retail investor-fueled short squeeze, which occurred in early 2021.

MEDIA & APPEARANCES

Burry has been profiled, featured and quoted in various financial media outlets and publications, including Forbes, Barron's, Reuters, Bloomberg, Fortune, Business Insider, CNBC, CNN, Yahoo! Finance, Fox Business, and MarketWatch.

People