Burry's AI Short: Genius Move or Just Another Doomsday Prepper Flex?
So, Michael Burry—the guy Hollywood loves to cast as the smartest dude in the room because he saw the 2008 crash coming—is betting against AI. Big deal. The news is that he's shorting Nvidia and Palantir. To the tune of $1.1 billion.
Yeah, that Nvidia, the one that’s been printing money faster than the Fed for the last year. And Palantir, because apparently, data is the new oil, or something.
The markets are reacting like Burry just announced the apocalypse. Asian markets tanked, tech stocks got hammered... Is this a rational response? Or are we all just sheep, jumping off a cliff because a celebrity investor sneezed? I mean, the Nikkei 225 got dragged down by SoftBank, which is up to its eyeballs in AI investments. Talk about a house of cards.
The "AI Bubble": Real or Imagined?
Everyone's screaming "AI bubble!" right now. Okay, fair enough. Valuations are insane. Companies with barely a product are getting VC funding like it's water. But bubbles can last a lot longer than anyone expects. Remember the dot-com boom? Pets.com went belly up, sure, but Amazon survived, didn't it?
And here's the thing: AI is different. It's not just some flash-in-the-pan tech fad. It’s fundamentally changing everything. Or so they say.
Farhan Badami from eToro says the correction among tech stocks will continue. "Investors seem to be feeling that some of the super-high valuations out there aren't making sense, and AI enthusiasm has definitely fuelled those stretched valuations."
No freakin' kidding.
But here's the question nobody seems to be asking: if everyone knows it's a bubble, does that mean it isn't a bubble? Or does it just mean we're all waiting for someone else to pop it? And is Burry just trying to be that guy?
The "Big Short" Redux?
Burry's whole rep rests on calling the 2008 housing crisis. He made a fortune betting against subprime mortgages. Now he's doing the same thing with AI stocks. History repeating itself? Maybe. But the thing about history is, it rhymes, it doesn't copy. The circumstances are totally different. According to the Trader who inspired The Big Short sets off AI tech share sell-off, Burry's actions have already impacted the market.
His tweet was classic Burry: "Sometimes, we see bubbles. Sometimes, there is something to do about it. Sometimes, the only winning move is not to play." Okay, Nostradamus, thanks for the fortune cookie wisdom.
What's his play here? Is he genuinely convinced that Nvidia and Palantir are overvalued? Or is he just trying to create a self-fulfilling prophecy? Talk about market manipulation.
The fall in SoftBank's shares is interesting, offcourse. Vincent Fernando calls the surge in their shares a "double-edged sword." Translation: what goes up must come down, especially when you're throwing billions at unproven tech.
The Tangent
You know what else is a bubble? The avocado toast bubble. Seriously, $15 for a slice of bread with mashed avocado? Give me a break. It's highway robbery. It's the perfect example of how millennials are being scammed into thinking they're living the good life when they're actually just drowning in debt. Okay, sorry, got a bit off track there...
Is This the End, or Just a Hiccup?
Honestly, I don't know. Maybe Burry's right. Maybe AI is the next subprime mortgage. Maybe we're all doomed. But maybe—just maybe—he's wrong. Maybe AI really is the future. Maybe Nvidia and Palantir will keep printing money. Maybe I should short avocado toast futures instead.
