‘Big Short’ investor Michael Burry, who was portrayed by Christian Bale, bets against Tesla

Investment firm has $534m put options against Tesla shares, SEC filing reveals

The famed Big Short investor Michael Burry has placed a $534m bet against Elon Musk’s electric car maker Tesla.

His Scion Asset Management was the owner of puts against 800,100 Tesla shares at the end of the first quarter of the financial year, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

He was one of the first investors to call and profit from the subprime mortgage crisis and was profiled in Michael Lewis’ The Big Short about the 2008 housing market crash. He was played by Christian Bale in the 2015 movie version of the book.

The details of the puts that Burry has are not included in the filing, just the number of shares they are against.

Put options allow investors the right to sell the share at a certain price in the future, known as the strike price.

Tesla stock has increased in value by more than 700 per cent in the last year and hit a record high of $883 per share in January.

But the value has dropped over the last few months with hedge fund managers calling the stock overvalued and Tesla’s stock price closed at $577 per share on Tuesday.

The investor has previously made it clear he is short against Tesla stock and has criticised its selling of green regulatory credits to Fiat Chrysler to generate profits.

In January, in a now deleted tweet, he wrote, “Well, my last Big Short got bigger and bigger and BIGGER too. Enjoy it while it lasts” before deleting it.

Mr Burry has not made any comment on his Tesla puts.