Michael Burry

Monday, February 3, 2014

The Beginning

In late 1996, Michael Burry was a resident in neurology at Stanford Hospital. In his off-hours at night, Michael Burry worked on his hobby: investing in financial markets.

It was during this time (November 1996) that Michael Burry began a thread on the Silicon Investor message board entitled "Value Investing." Below is the full text of that post:

Started: 11/16/1996 11:01:00 PM Revision History

Ok, how about a value investing thread?

What we are looking for are value plays. Value plays in the Ben Graham tradition.

We want to stay away from the obscenely high PE's and look at net working capital models, etc. Schooling in the art of fundamental analysis is also appropriate here.

Good luck to all. Hope this thread survives.

With this post, Michael Burry began his public investment career. Mr. Burry was extremely successful with his stock picks; and attracted the attention of Vanguard, White Mountains Insurance Group and prominent investor Joel Greenblatt.

Michael Burry left the medical profession in 2000 to start up his hedge fund, called Scion Capital, which he ran until 2008 -- at which time he closed his fund to focus on personal investments.

This blog will highlight Mr. Burry's investment process, picks, public pronouncements, and anything else that may be relevant to understanding his success.

Biography

Michael Burry is an American hedge fund manager and physician. He is the founder of the Scion Capital LLC hedge fund, which he ran from 2000 until 2008, when he closed
the fund to focus on his own personal investments. Burry was one of the first investors in the world to recognize and invest in the impending subprime mortgage crisis. Author Michael Lewis profiled him in his 2010 book The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine, and he was featured in Gregory Zuckerman's 2009 book The Greatest Trade Ever: How John Paulson Bet Against The Markets and Made $20 Billion.

Burry attended University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) for his undergrad, graduated from Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, and did his residency in neurology at Stanford Hospital. While off duty at night, he worked on his lifelong hobby, which was an interest in financial investments. In 2000, Michael Burry quit the medical profession to start Scion Capital.

Burry is married with children and lives in California. He has been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, as has his son. (Source)