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Michael Burry, head of Scion Asset Management and main character in the movie The Big Short, based on the book by Michael Lewis of the same name.
Astrid Stawiarz / Getty Images
A high profile investor in
GameStop
called the recent surge in action “unnatural, insane and dangerous”.
Investor Michael Burry, head of Scion Asset Management and an important character in The Big Short book and film, said in a post now deleted on
Twitter
that he believes there should be legal repercussions for what is happening with GameStop negotiations. Burry made a substantial investment in GameStop in 2019 and said he is happy with investors who made money after his initial investment in the retailer.
“If I put $ GME on your radar, and you do well, I’m genuinely happy for you,” he wrote in a tweet quickly deleted on Tuesday. “However, what is happening now – there must be legal and regulatory repercussions. This is not natural, insane and dangerous. “
Burry said Barron’s in an email stating that he deleted the post because he marked the wrong SEC application account. After publication, Burry posted the same comment again, this time with the appropriate account checked.
GameStop’s shares have risen more than 3,415% in the last 12 months, taking advantage of the wave of enthusiasm from retail investors and crushing short sellers. The very high interest on the short shares was the subject of speculation on Reddit’s WallStreetBets forum. He’s been a favorite among that crowd for months, and his faith has paid off. This month’s wave was initially started with the announcement that Chewy co-founder Ryan Cohen and two former e-commerce company executives would join GameStop’s board. RC Ventures de Cohen owns approximately 13% of GameStop shares.
In August 2019, when the GameStop shares below were $ 4 each, Burry revealed a 3% stake in the company. Burry thought the shares were undervalued, pointing to GameStop’s balance sheet and predicting that the next generation of video game consoles, due for release in late 2020, would still include disk drives, extending the relevance of GameStop.
Burry’s company sold more than one million GameStop shares, or about 38% of its stake, during the September 2020 quarter, according to a SEC filing. Burry did not immediately return a follow-up email asking if he still had shares.
Burry’s investment proved to be a huge success for those who followed him and held on for the past week. GameStop’s shares closed up 92% to $ 147.98 on Tuesday, and the shares were flying higher on the floor after a shout from Tesla CEO Elon Musk.
GameStop representatives did not immediately return a request for comment on the stock’s movement.
Write to Connor Smith at [email protected]