Michael Burry Movie: A Look at the Life and Career of the Big Short Investor

Michael Burry is a physician-turned-investor who gained international recognition for his role in predicting the 2008 global financial crisis. He was one of the first investors to short the housing market.

Burry's background is in medicine, having graduated from the University of California, San Diego, with a degree in biology. He went on to attend medical school at the University of Pennsylvania.

In 2004, Burry founded Scion Asset Management, a hedge fund that focused on value investing. He was known for his contrarian approach, often betting against the market's consensus.

Burry's most notable achievement was predicting the housing market bubble and shorting it before the 2008 crisis. His fund made a significant profit from this bet, earning him a reputation as a visionary investor.

The Big Short is a 2015 film adaptation of author Michael Lewis' best-selling book of the same name. The movie, cowritten and directed by Adam McKay, focuses on the lives of several American financial professionals, including Burry, who predicted and profited from the buildup and subsequent collapse of the housing bubble in 2007 and 2008.

Michael Burry, the founder of Scion Capital, foresaw the impending collapse of the housing bubble in the late 2000s. He took the opportunity to capitalize on his foresight by strategically shorting mortgage-backed securities, resulting in substantial financial gains of $700 million for his investors and $100 million personally.

Burry's success in predicting the stock market crash is largely credited to his unique focus on lenders rather than borrowers. He explained this phenomenon as "the extension of credit by instrument", a term he coined to describe the practice of lenders resorting to new financial instruments in order to justify lending money to unqualified borrowers.

In 2005, Burry's focus turned to the subprime market, where he began to notice significant irregularities in mortgage lending practices and bank balance sheets. He correctly predicted that the housing bubble would collapse as early as 2007, realizing that the credit products based on subprime mortgages would plummet in value as soon as higher rates replaced the original rates.

Burry's analysis proved correct: in 2007, the market started to turn in his predicted direction as more insiders understood the system's risks. Then the dominoes began to drop, with Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, and the rest of the financial system behind them.

Here's a brief timeline of Burry's success:

Burry's unique approach to investing and his ability to predict the stock market crash have made him one of the most successful investors in history.

Michael Burry started his investment career as a hobby, quickly making a name for himself in the investing space. His unique strategies and insights set him apart from others in the field.

Burry's active participation in online forums and blog posts positioned him as a respected voice in the investment community. His blog was a valuable resource for investors, and he even caught the attention of Joel Greenblatt of Gotham Capital.

In 2000, Burry launched Scion Capital, his own investment fund, with an initial capital boost of $1 million from Joel Greenblatt.

Michael Burry was born and raised in San Jose, California. He faced a significant life challenge at the age of 2, when he was diagnosed with retinoblastoma, leading to the loss of his left eye. Since then, he has worn a prosthetic eye.

Michael graduated from the University of California in Los Angeles, where he earned a bachelor's degree in economics. He then moved on to attain an M.D. from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Michael completed his residency, specializing in neurology, at Stanford Hospital and Clinics. Burry lives in Saratoga, California, with his second wife.

He has two adult sons, one of whom was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at a young age. Michael recognized that he shared the same symptoms as his son, and he was subsequently diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome at the age of 35.

Michael Burry's investment career started as a hobby, but he quickly made a name for himself in the investing space.

He was a respected voice in the investment community, thanks to his active participation in online forums and the insights he shared on his blog. His strategies and insights were unique from others in the field, as he once said, "Everything I do in investment is just very different."

Burry launched his own investment fund, Scion Capital, in 2000, with an initial capital boost of $1 million from Joel Greenblatt of Gotham Capital. This was after Greenblatt became an avid reader of Burry's blog.

Scion Capital was a success, giving its investors a return of 55% in 2001, while the S&P 500 suffered an 11% decline that year. Burry's fund made money by strategically shorting overvalued tech stocks during the dot-com bubble.

Michael Burry's quirky side is on full display in his office habits. He's a guy who listens to speed metal.

According to director Adam McKay, Burry was known to go weeks wearing the same clothes. This laid-back attitude likely served him well in his intense days of being a hedge fund manager.

The real Michael Burry is indeed an introvert, just like Christian Bale's character in the movie. His own son was diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, which led Burry to believe he too suffered from a mild form of the autism-related condition.

Being an introvert can be a strength in certain situations, like intense research and analysis that Burry is known for.

The real Michael Burry lost an eye to cancer when he was two years old. This had a lasting impact on his life.

You're never not aware that you have an artificial eye, says Burry. This is a constant reminder of his condition.

He can feel his artificial eye and notices when it doesn't line up with others. This can lead to some awkward social interactions.

Kids teased him for being cross-eyed, which added to his self-consciousness.

Michael Burry's introduction to the stock market began in approximately the second grade, when he looked into American Motors, the company that made the real-life version of the toy jeep that accompanied his little plastic army men.

By high school, Burry was already investing real money in the stock market.

Michael Burry's investing strategy is all about identifying potential risks and shorting the market. He predicted the housing bubble would collapse as early as 2007.

Burry's focus turned to the subprime market in 2005, where he noticed significant irregularities in mortgage lending practices and bank balance sheets. He correctly predicted the housing bubble would collapse.

Burry shorted the housing market by convincing Goldman Sachs and other investment banking companies to sell him credit default swaps (CDS) against subprime deals. This decision paid off handsomely, earning him a $100 million profit.

Burry's analysis proved correct in 2007, and the market started to turn in his predicted direction. The dominoes began to drop, with Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, and the rest of the financial system behind them.

Burry's bet against the housing market was not without controversy, as he refused to allow his clients to withdraw their capital. This decision ultimately led to a 489.34% return on investment for his fund.

In 2023, Burry decided to hedge against the global semiconductor market, which had been doing well after economies recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic. He shorted BlackRock Inc.'s semiconductor fund, but unfortunately for Burry, BlackRock's success has not abated.

Burry has a history of shorting high-flying technology stocks and funds, including Cathie Wood's flagship ARK Innovation ETF and Elon Musk's Tesla Inc. His shorting strategy is all about identifying potential risks and profiting from them.

Michael Burry's hedge fund, Scion Asset Management, was a rebrand of his prior fund, Scion Capital, which he shut down in 2008 due to public criticism. He launched Scion Asset Management in 2013.

This new firm focuses on investments in gold, water, and agricultural land, reflecting Burry's conviction that water is the most valuable asset of the future.

Michael Burry's investment style is built upon the concept of a margin of safety, which he learned from Benjamin Graham's and David Dodd's 1934 book "Security Analysis". He's 100% based on this concept for his stock picking.

Burry was among the first to call the dot-com bubble by analyzing overvalued companies with little revenue or profitability. He began shorting those stocks immediately and quickly earned extraordinary profits for his investors.

He returned 55% in the year 2001, even though the S&P 500 fell almost 12%.

Michael Burry, a hedge fund manager, is betting on a Wall Street crash. He purchased $866 million in put options against a fund that tracks the S&P 500 and $739 million against a fund that tracks the Nasdaq 100.

Put options give the right to sell at a predetermined price within a specific time frame. This strategy shows Burry's confidence in predicting a market downturn.

Burry's firm continues to make predictions about the U.S. economy and executes careful investments. His technical analysis and ability to remain uninfluenced by market sentiments have earned him praise from the investment community.

My natural state is an outsider, and I've always felt outside the group, says Burry, who has been analyzing the group from the outside. This perspective may give him an edge in predicting market trends.

The dot-com bubble was a significant financial crisis that occurred in the early 2000s. Michael Burry was among the first to call it, using his value investing strategy to identify overvalued companies with little revenue or profitability.

He began shorting those stocks immediately, which quickly earned him extraordinary profits for his investors. His fund returned 55% in the first year, even though the S&P 500 fell almost 12%.

Burry's success attracted the interest of companies like Vanguard and White Mountains Insurance Group, as well as well-known investors like Joel Greenblatt. By the end of 2004, he was managing $600 million and turning investors away.

The market continued to decline dramatically over the next two years, yet Burry's fund still returned 16% and 50% respectively, outperforming the S&P 500.

Michael Burry is an investor who made a name for himself by profiting from the subprime mortgage crisis in 2007.

He was able to do this by shorting the mortgage bond market, making a significant $100 million for himself and a whopping $700 million for his investors.

Burry shut down his hedge fund, Scion Capital, in 2008, but he didn't stop there. He went on to incorporate his private investment firm, Scion Asset Management, in 2013.

In April 2022, Burry tweeted that the Fed had no intention of fighting inflation, which sparked a lot of discussion among investors and economists.

Here are some key takeaways about Michael Burry: