Michael Burry Launches Substack Newsletter After Deregistering Hedge Fund to Detail AI Bubble Views

The Big Short Investor Pivots to Direct Commentary on AI Valuations

Michael Burry, the investor immortalized in The Big Short for correctly predicting the 2008 housing collapse, has made a significant shift in his professional life, moving from active fund management to direct public commentary. Following the deregistration of his hedge fund, Scion Asset Management, Burry has launched a newsletter on the Substack platform.

The primary motivation for this pivot is to articulate his increasingly bearish views on the current financial landscape, particularly his concerns that the market is inflating an Artificial Intelligence (AI) bubble.

This move provides Burry with a direct channel to communicate his analysis, bypassing the regulatory requirements and public scrutiny associated with managing a registered investment advisory firm.

Deregistration of Scion Asset Management

The decision to launch a newsletter is intrinsically linked to the status of Scion Asset Management. Burry deregistered the firm, effectively ceasing its operation as a public hedge fund requiring mandatory quarterly disclosures.

For investment managers in the United States, managing assets above a certain threshold—typically $100 million—requires registration with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and subsequent filing of Form 13F. These filings reveal the firm’s equity holdings, offering the public a window into the manager’s strategy.

By deregistering, Burry signals a return to a more private investment style. This change offers several key advantages for the famously contrarian investor:

• Elimination of 13F Filings: Burry is no longer required to disclose his portfolio holdings quarterly, removing the intense public scrutiny and copycat trading that often followed his moves.
• Increased Flexibility: He gains greater freedom in his investment choices and timing, unconstrained by the need to manage a large, public fund structure.
• Direct Communication: The Substack platform allows him to share complex market theories and warnings directly with subscribers, rather than through mandated regulatory documents or sporadic media appearances.

Burry’s Core Thesis: The AI Valuation Bubble

Burry’s central focus in his new venture is the rapid, and in his view, unsustainable valuation growth tied to the AI sector. He views the current enthusiasm surrounding AI technology—and the subsequent pricing of related stocks—as highly speculative, drawing parallels to historical market excesses.

His concerns center on the disconnect between the immediate financial performance of many AI-adjacent companies and their astronomical market capitalizations. This echoes the sentiment he held during the lead-up to the 2008 financial crisis, where he identified systemic risk overlooked by the broader market.

While AI represents a transformative technology, Burry’s skepticism lies in the speed and scale at which future profits are being priced into current stock values. He suggests that the market is currently exhibiting classic signs of speculative fever, where the promise of future innovation outweighs current financial reality.

“The market is pricing in decades of perfect execution and exponential growth for companies merely associated with AI, ignoring the fundamental challenges of monetization and competition,” Burry is expected to detail in his initial newsletter posts.

This perspective places him squarely against the prevailing bullish sentiment that has driven major technology indices to record highs in 2024 and 2025.

The Strategic Value of the Newsletter Format

The choice of a newsletter, specifically Substack, is a calculated move that maximizes Burry’s influence while minimizing his regulatory burden. Unlike traditional media interviews or social media posts, a dedicated newsletter allows for the detailed, long-form analysis required to explain complex financial theories.

For subscribers, the newsletter offers what is perceived as unfiltered, expert insight from an investor with a proven track record of identifying systemic risk—a valuable commodity in volatile markets.

Implications of the Shift

The transition from fund manager to market commentator has several implications for the financial community:

1. Focus on Macro Risk: Without the need to manage a daily portfolio, Burry can dedicate his efforts entirely to identifying and analyzing large-scale, macro-economic risks, such as inflation, interest rate policy, and sector-specific bubbles.
2. Increased Privacy: His personal investments, which are often highly volatile and contrarian, will remain private, preventing the public from front-running or misinterpreting his smaller, more tactical trades.
3. Influence Without Management: Burry maintains his influential voice in the financial world, shaping the narrative around high-risk sectors without the operational overhead of running a registered fund.

The Legacy of the Contrarian Investor

Michael Burry first gained widespread fame for his successful bet against the U.S. housing market in the mid-2000s, a story chronicled in Michael Lewis’s book and subsequent film, The Big Short.

His methodology involves deep, fundamental research to identify mispriced assets or systemic risks that the consensus view dismisses. This track record lends significant weight to his current warnings about AI valuations.

Key Precedents for Burry’s Warnings:

1. The Housing Bubble (2005–2008): Burry was among the first to recognize the inherent instability in subprime mortgage-backed securities, leading him to place massive short bets that eventually paid off handsomely.
2. The Meme Stock Phenomenon (2021): Burry famously warned about the speculative frenzy surrounding certain “meme stocks,” suggesting the retail trading boom was unsustainable.
3. Water and Farmland: Post-2008, Burry focused on investments in hard assets like water and farmland, reflecting a long-term view on resource scarcity and inflation.

His latest focus on the AI sector confirms that he continues to seek out areas where market exuberance has potentially created dangerous overvaluations.

Key Takeaways

Michael Burry’s latest career move and market focus provide critical insight into where one of the world’s most successful contrarian investors sees the greatest risk in 2025:

• The Pivot: Burry has deregistered Scion Asset Management to transition from a public fund manager to a private investor and market commentator.
• The Platform: He launched a Substack newsletter to communicate his complex financial views directly to the public without regulatory constraints.
• The Warning: His primary focus is detailing his belief that the current, soaring valuations in AI-related stocks constitute a speculative AI bubble.
• The Freedom: Deregistration frees him from mandatory SEC 13F filings, allowing for greater privacy and flexibility in his personal investment strategy.

Conclusion

Burry’s strategic shift underscores a desire to prioritize intellectual freedom and the ability to voice unpopular market opinions over the demands of managing a large, regulated fund. For the financial community, the launch of his newsletter means a new, direct source of analysis from a figure whose warnings have historically proven prescient. Investors will be closely watching his Substack for detailed arguments supporting his bearish stance on the AI-fueled market rally.