‘The Big Short’ Investor Bets $1.6 Billion on Stock Market Crash

Michael Burry, The Big Short investor famous for making big bucks by predicting the collapse of the housing market in 2008, just made another huge and risky bet. According to Security Exchange Commission filings released Monday, Burry placed bearish bets against the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 totaling to $1.6 billion—more than 90 percent of his portfolio. His fund, Scion Asset Management, purchased $866 million and $739 million in put options against funds that track the two stock indexes, signaling he anticipates a significant crash. The nearly $2 billion wager comes at a time in which both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 have gone up significantly this year, with respective increases of 16 percent and 38 percent. But Burry hasn’t always hit the mark with his bold predictions. In January, he tweeted a vague message to his followers: “Sell.” Then, just two months later, he admitted it wasn’t the right move. “I was wrong to say sell,” Burry wrote.