Michael Burry—the oracle who sniffed out the 2008 housing meltdown—is now wagering nearly $1.1 billion that the AI boom is more hot air than hard drive.
Scion Asset Management’s latest 13F filing dropped like a mic on Monday, unveiling put options on a whopping 10 million Nvidia shares and 5 million Palantir ones, dated back to September 30.
Burry teased the news on X with a cryptic nod to bubbles and a cheeky photo of Christian Bale channeling his brooding genius from “The Big Short.” It’s as if he’s whispering, “Fool me once, shame on you; fool me with overpriced GPUs, and I’ll short the lot.”
Nvidia has rocketed 41% this year alone, ballooning to a fleeting $5 trillion valuation that makes even tech bros blush. Palantir, the data wizard riding the same hype wave, has soared 260% in 12 months, though it hit a speed bump after earnings.
These puts? They’re Burry’s polite way of saying, “Thanks, but no thanks,” to the right to sell at a fixed price if the stocks nosedive. No strike prices or expiration dates in the filing, but the notional value screams “serious side-eye” at $1.1 billion combined.
Enter Palantir’s CEO Alex Karp, who didn’t just respond—he lobbed a grenade on CNBC. “The two companies he’s shorting are the ones making all the money, which is super weird,” Karp quipped, dubbing the idea of betting against chips and ontology “bats— crazy.”
It’s the kind of zinger that turns boardrooms into comedy clubs, with Karp essentially yelling, “Short the cash cows? That’s like betting against gravity while jumping out of a plane.”
Burry’s not alone in the worry ward. Goldman Sachs’ David Solomon fretted that much of the AI capital splash might evaporate without a splashback in returns. Morgan Stanley and Goldman are even handicapping a 10% to 20% market hiccup in the next couple years, like weather forecasters predicting rain on your picnic.
Picture Wall Street as a high-stakes poker game where everyone’s bluffing with AI aces, and Burry’s the guy folding early with a smirk. His 2008 haul—$100 million personal, $725 million for investors—proves he’s no stranger to calling bluffs that pay off handsomely.
While Burry sits on his powder keg, gold’s glittering as the ultimate “I told you so” asset, up 45% in a year. Ray Dalio, the Bridgewater sage, preaches more gold in portfolios for when the party’s raided by reality.
And real estate? Warren Buffett would snap up apartment empires for steady rent checks, no boom required. Platforms like Mogul let mere mortals snag fractional slices of prime rentals, promising 10-12% yields without the midnight plumbing panics.
Even Robinhood’s democratizing the drama, handing options tools to the masses for under a buck per fractional share. Range apps keep your finances from turning into a funhouse mirror amid the volatility.
Burry’s play isn’t a crystal ball—markets love to mock the messengers. But as AI’s fairy tale meets fiscal fine print, one thing’s clear: In this casino, the house always wins, unless you’re the guy betting on the bust.
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