Michael Burry Net Worth Explained: From The Big Short to Cassandra Unchained
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Michael Burry net worth is estimated between 200 million and 350 million dollars as of 2026. No figure has been confirmed by Burry himself, and he does not appear on the Forbes or Bloomberg wealth lists.
Michael Burry Net Worth in 2026
The most commonly cited estimate for Michael Burry net worth is around 300 million dollars, though published figures range from 200 million to 350 million.
Burry is not required to disclose personal wealth. His hedge fund, Scion Asset Management, ended its SEC registration in November 2025, which removed the regulatory filings that once gave outside observers a partial view into his holdings.
What remains public are option positions disclosed before the fund closed and revenue estimates for a subscription newsletter he now runs.
In practice, wealth estimates for private investors like Burry are built from indirect evidence rather than direct confirmation.
Fund performance history, past regulatory filings, and known asset purchases are combined into a range, and that range tends to widen once a person stops filing with regulators.
The same pattern shows up across other public figures whose net worth is estimated mainly from career history and visible assets rather than direct disclosure.
Michael Burry Net Worth Estimate Range
Sources covering Michael Burry net worth generally settle on three figures: 200 million dollars as the older, more conservative estimate, 300 million dollars as the figure most frequently repeated, and 350 million dollars as the upper bound tied to newsletter growth and continued market activity.
Is Michael Burry a Billionaire
Michael Burry is not a billionaire based on publicly available information. A figure of 1.2 billion dollars circulates on some sites, but it traces back to a single source that is not corroborated by regulatory filings, fund performance data, or other independent estimates.
The 200 to 350 million dollar range is the one supported by multiple sources.
How Michael Burry Built His Wealth
Early Life and Education
Burry was born on June 19, 1971, in San Jose, California. As a toddler he lost his left eye to retinoblastoma and has worn a prosthetic since.
He studied economics and pre-med at UCLA, earned a Doctor of Medicine degree from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and began a neurology residency at Stanford University Medical Center that he did not complete.
From Medicine to Investing
While still in medical training, Burry spent his free time researching stocks and posting his analysis on early investment forums.
That work built a following among individual and institutional readers. In 2000, he used personal savings, family loans, and an inheritance to start Scion Capital.
The Subprime Mortgage Bet
Beginning around 2005, Burry concluded that mortgage backed securities built on subprime loans were overvalued. He used credit default swaps to bet against them, a position that required his fund to pay steady premiums for roughly two years before it paid off.
When the housing market declined in 2007 and 2008, the trade reportedly returned about 700 million dollars to his investors and about 100 million dollars to Burry personally.
The trade was documented in Michael Lewis's book "The Big Short" and the 2015 film of the same name.
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Scion Asset Management
After closing Scion Capital in 2008, Burry founded Scion Asset Management in 2013. The fund filed as an exempt reporting adviser and reported about 155 million dollars in regulatory assets as of a March 2025 filing.
Scion terminated its SEC registration in November 2025, a move confirmed by Bloomberg, which brought its public disclosure requirements to an end.
The GameStop Position
Between 2019 and 2020, Scion built a position of roughly three million GameStop shares at a low average cost and pushed the company toward share buybacks.
Burry exited most of the position by late 2020, ahead of the 2021 short squeeze that made GameStop widely known. The sale reportedly returned about 100 million dollars.
Also Read: Wes Hall Net Worth
Michael Burry's Current Activities
The AI Short Positions
Scion's final regulatory filing, submitted in early November 2025, disclosed put options against Nvidia and Palantir with a combined notional value near 1.1 billion dollars. Notional value describes the size of the underlying position, not the cash actually at risk.
Burry has said the premiums paid for the Palantir puts were closer to 9 million dollars, a small fraction of the headline number, according to Yahoo Finance.
Teams that analyze 13F filings commonly point out that notional exposure figures can overstate a trader's real financial risk, since options can be structured with limited downside relative to their stated size.
Palantir's chief executive publicly disputed how the position was characterized in media coverage.
Burry has since referenced a short position in Oracle through his newsletter, and as reported by CNBC, he has also argued that several hyperscalers may be understating depreciation costs tied to AI infrastructure.
Cassandra Unchained Newsletter
After closing Scion, Burry launched a paid Substack newsletter called Cassandra Unchained in late November 2025. It costs 39 dollars per month or 379 dollars per year and had passed 300,000 subscribers by mid-2026.
The number of paying subscribers has not been disclosed, so income estimates based on that subscriber count remain speculative rather than confirmed, a caveat that applies broadly whenever a public figure's net worth depends on undisclosed subscription or membership revenue.
Reported Real Estate Assets
Burry and his wife purchased a home in Saratoga, California in 2004 for about 3.8 million dollars, now estimated to be worth around 7 million dollars.
They also own a property in Nashville, Tennessee, purchased in 2021 for about 2.55 million dollars and now estimated near 4 million dollars.
Real estate purchases like these are one of the few asset categories tied to Burry that carry a documented purchase price, which is why they show up consistently across sources covering his finances, much like documented property or asset purchases anchor net worth estimates for other private individuals.
Net Worth Estimate Comparison
|
Estimate |
Amount |
Basis |
|
Lower estimate |
200 million dollars |
Original post crisis estimate, still cited by some sources |
|
Most cited estimate |
300 million dollars |
Combines 2008 profits, fund history, and current option positions |
|
Upper estimate |
350 million dollars |
Reflects newsletter growth and continued market activity |
|
Unverified claim |
1.2 billion dollars |
Traced to a single uncorroborated source, not supported elsewhere |
Conclusion
Michael Burry net worth has no confirmed figure. Public estimates cluster between 200 million and 350 million dollars, with 300 million cited most often.
His finances now depend on option positions and newsletter revenue rather than a disclosed fund, so future estimates will shift only if new information becomes public.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Michael Burry net worth
Public estimates place Michael Burry net worth between 200 million and 350 million dollars in 2026, with no figure confirmed directly by Burry.
Is Michael Burry a billionaire
No independent source confirms billionaire status. The commonly cited figure is in the low hundreds of millions.
Why did Michael Burry shut down Scion Asset Management
Burry returned investor capital and ended Scion's SEC registration in November 2025, then shifted his focus to a personal newsletter.
What is Michael Burry shorting in 2026
His disclosed positions include long dated put options against Nvidia and Palantir, along with a later disclosed short interest in Oracle.
How much does Cassandra Unchained cost
The newsletter costs 39 dollars per month or 379 dollars per year, with a limited free tier available.


