Michael Burry – Life, Education, And Career
A successful financial investor, Michael Burry has made a fortune from his stocks picks. He was the founder of Scion Capital, which was one of the best performing funds in the 2000s. During his time at the fund, the fund returned 489% of its assets net of fees.
The hedge fund was initially started with $1 million of seed money from Burry’s parents. Later, other investors joined. In 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis erupted, triggering the global financial crisis. The real estate industry was at the peak of its boom, and people who were unable to pay their loans were forced to default. Seeing this situation, Burry realized that the real estate market was too risky and that it was about to burst.
After this, Burry founded Scion Asset Management. His firm is still active, with three million shares of GameStop – the equivalent of 3% of the company – held by the fund. It has also bought into Charter Communications, which owns fiber infrastructure.
Michael Burry was born in New York City, but grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles. He attended Stanford University and graduated with a Bachelor’s in Economics and a Master’s in business administration. He then went to work at the Stanford Hospital as a neurologist. While there, he read “The Intelligent Investor,” by Benjamin Graham, which helped him develop a keen sense of value investing.
Although he was a doctor, Burry decided to become a full-time investor. Throughout his career, he has developed a reputation as a financial visionary. When he started his own fund, Burry received interest from Joel Greenblatt and Vanguard. But he rejected offers to withdraw from the fund.
Burry’s investments are based on the concept of margin of safety. This is the difference between a security’s price and its intrinsic value. For example, if a stock is trading at $100 per share, the value is expected to reach the intrinsic value of that stock, which is $200 per share.
Burry’s investment portfolio is largely comprised of gold, agricultural land, and small technology companies. Real assets provide a natural hedge against inflation, as well as a boost to the earnings power of the companies in the portfolio.
As a result of the subprime mortgage crisis, Burry was able to make billions of dollars. By advising clients to take advantage of credit default swaps on subprime mortgage securities, he was able to sell them to investors and make a profit.
He is also an avid reader, and he recommends several books on investing, including “Security Analysis,” by Graham and Dodd, and “The Intelligent Investor,” by Benjamin Graham. Several non-profit organizations that he is involved with are also devoted to helping others.
Since he first launched his hedge fund, Burry has been able to attract interest from a number of investors, including Joel Greenblatt and White Mountains Insurance Group. His firm has been able to make millions of dollars, but he has also been accused of making poor bets.