Michael Burry Bets $1.6-B On Stock Market Crash

Michael Burry, the “Big Short” investor who became famous for correctly predicting the epic collapse of the housing market in 2008, has bet more than $1.6 billion on a Wall Street crash, Nicole Goodkind reported for CNN.

Photo Insert: In January, he tweeted a cryptic message to his 1.4 million followers. “Sell,” he wrote. But by the end of March, he backtracked, writing “I was wrong to say sell.”

Burry is making his bearish bets against the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100, Security Exchange Commission filings released Monday showed.

Burry’s fund, Scion Asset Management, bought $866 million in put options (the right to sell an asset at a particular price) against a fund that tracks the S&P 500 and $739 million in put options against a fund that tracks the Nasdaq 100.

Burry is using more than 90% of his portfolio to bet on a market downturn. But Burry appears to have been wavering between bullish and bearish on his stock picks this year.

In January, he tweeted a cryptic message to his 1.4 million followers. “Sell,” he wrote. But by the end of March, he backtracked. "I was wrong to say sell.” he wrote. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 have both notched big gains so far this year. They’re up nearly 16% and 38%, respectively.

In the mid-2000s, Burry put a wager against the housing market and profited immensely from the subprime lending crisis and the collapse of major financial entities in 2008.

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