Michael Burry who made a killing predicted the 2008 US housing market crash and walked away with $100 million for himself and another $700 million for his investors through some lucrative bets that ran counter to what most people were saying at the time.
And now! The Scion Asset Management chief is warning that economic forecasts for a ‘soft landing’ or even a ‘mild recession’ are overly optimistic.
On 30th November, Michael Burry tweeted the following message which has been deleted :
“What strategy will pull us out of this real recession? What forces will pull us so. There are none. So we are really looking at an extended multi year recession”
Michael Burry has long argued that the US consumers are spending down their savings, inflation is on the rise, and corporate profits will suffer, all leading to an inevitable recession.
He claims that this recession could drag on longer than investment banks think because the Federal Reserve and government lack practical ways to bolster the economy without inflation getting worse.
The hedge funder, portrayed by actor Christian Bale in the 2015 film The Big Short, has been warning about the potential for an economically devastating recession.
And while some have criticized his generally pessimistic outlooks and inconsistent record, he still has made some accurate predictions recently.
One of Burry’s famous recent examples is when he warned crypto investors of an enormous crash just before the Crypto Winter in June 2021. Since then, according to CoinMarketCap, the value of cryptocurrency has decreased from $3 trillion dollars to $850 billion dollars.
He also called the stock market ‘The greatest speculative bubble of all time in all things’ in 2021, before the S&P 500 cratered 18% this year.
However, Burry predictions aren’t always accurate.
In July, after the S&P 500 logged its worst first-half performance since 1970, the hedge funder warned that the index could fall to 2800 this year. But since then, it’s actually traded flat with some volatility in between.
Michael James Burry is an American investor, hedge fund manager, and physician.
He founded the hedge fund Scion Capital, which he ran from 2000 until 2008 before closing it to focus on his personal investments. He is best known for being amongst the first investors to predict and profit from the subprime mortgage crisis.
By taking this audacious move, Michael Burry not only proved himself to be a financial visionary, but also achieved Worldwide fame by earning close to one billion dollars for him and his investors between 2008-2009 when the subprime credit crisis broke out.
After retiring in 2008, Burry devoted himself to managing only his own capital, however, in 2013 he opened a new investment fund, Scion Management in which he makes heavy bets towards gold, small technologies and agricultural land.