Most people had never heard of Michael Burry before the film The Big Short hit screens worldwide in 2015. He was the maverick hedge fund manager, played by Christian Bale, who bet against the US housing market in the run-up to the global financial crisis, and won.

Burry’s Scion Asset Management is known for making bold bets on stock markets. In May 2022 the company dumped its entire equity portfolio bar just one stock, the relatively obscure Geo Group (GEO:NYSE), which runs prisons and mental health facilities.

Then in June 2022, Burry said that the S&P 500 could halve in value, a scary thought for most ordinary investors. The index did fall, although not by nearly as much as expected, losing around 13% by October 2022.

Burry has form as a perma-bear. He even tweets under the handle @cassandra, a nod to the priestess in Greek mythology cursed to share true prophecies but never to be believed.

Biggest stakes owned by Michael Burry’s Scion Asset Management / Image Source: Shares, Visual Capitalist, SEC filings

Burry predicted the collapse of Tesla (TSLA:NASDAQ), betting that its stock would lose 90% of its value, yet the electric cars maker has continued to soar. Perhaps his crystal ball needs a polish.

It is worth remembering that Burry is largely a value investor, especially in distressed assets. Scion Asset Management’s portfolio reflects this as a good portion of its holdings at the end of the first quarter 2023 were in various bank stocks which had declined significantly throughout March.

Burry’s biggest bets now, however, are in Chinese e-commerce companies JD.com (9618:HKG) and Alibaba (9988:HKG), indicating Burry’s belief in a consumer driven economic reopening for China this year.

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