Michael Burry closes short position in Tesla stock after riding a 20% drop

Michael Burry, the investor who became a household name by betting against the US housing market before it imploded in 2008, has reportedly closed his short position on Tesla stock. The position, which he opened at $416.22 per share on June 30, appears to have been a winner: Tesla shares dropped more than 20% in the weeks after he put the trade on.

The closure was reported by prediction market platform Kalshi on August 14, though no formal SEC filings or statements from Burry himself have surfaced to confirm the move. That gap between rumor and regulatory paper trail is worth keeping in mind.

How the trade played out

Burry disclosed his short position in late June, when Tesla was trading at $416.22. At the time, he noted that the stock had just bounced back to that level following a 10% rally from a prior close of $379.71.

Tesla shares slid through July, reaching the low $300s by late in the month. That represents a decline of more than 20% from Burry’s entry point.

The Tesla short was not a standalone bet. Burry’s broader bearish thesis targeted multiple companies riding the AI and semiconductor wave, including Nvidia and Applied Materials.

What remains unknown is the actual size of the position. No dollar value, share count, or structural details (whether this was a direct equity short or involved options) have been disclosed. Without those figures, it is impossible to calculate Burry’s actual profit or loss on the trade.

Burry’s complicated history with Tesla

This is not the first time Burry has taken a swing at Tesla from the short side. Back in 2021, he disclosed put options on more than 1 million Tesla shares, a position he described at the time as “just a trade.” He exited that bet relatively quickly, citing market dynamics that made holding the position untenable.

Burry’s investing reputation rests on a single, spectacular call: recognizing that subprime mortgages were a ticking time bomb and positioning accordingly. That trade, immortalized in Michael Lewis’s book and the subsequent film “The Big Short,” earned him and his investors roughly $700 million.

What the exit signals for Tesla and tech

The lack of formal confirmation from Burry or regulatory filings is notable. Kalshi, a prediction market platform, reported the closure, but prediction markets aggregate signals rather than provide primary documentation. Until 13F filings or other disclosures surface, the precise contours of this trade remain somewhat opaque.

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