Michael Burry made his name by shorting the 2008 housing market crisis and raking in an estimated $100 million for himself and $725 million for his clients.
The hedge fund manager and CEO of Scion Asset Management is at it again in 2025, aggressively overhauling his firm’s investment portfolio, according to its latest 13F filing for the first quarter. In it, Burry has aggressively cut his long positions down to a single stock and has stacked major put options against familiar Wall Street names, several of which used to be in the Scion portfolio (details in the table below). His huge short positions against Magnificent Seven star Nvidia Corp. (ticker: NVDA) and leading Chinese companies are the standouts.
[Sign up for stock news with our Invested newsletter.]
In the first quarter of 2025, Burry also dissolved long positions in several smaller holdings, including American Coastal Insurance Corp. (ACIC), Bruker Corp. (BRKR), Canada Goose Holdings Inc. (GOOS), HCA Healthcare Inc. (HCA), Magnera Corp. (MAGN), Molina Healthcare Inc. (MOH), Oscar Health Inc. (OSCR) and VF Corp. (VFC). All of the portfolio moves came just before President Donald Trump declared “reciprocal” tariffs on nearly every U.S. trading partner, and plans for those announced in February likely had a big impact on Scion’s portfolio shift.
Here’s a rundown of Scion’s most recent 13F filing, including the new short positions that once again define a classic Michael Burry portfolio:
| Stock | % of portfolio | Market value* |
| Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) (Put) | 48.96% | $97.5 million |
| Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) (Put) | 13.27% | $26.4 million |
| PDD Holdings Inc. (PDD) (Put) | 11.88% | $23.7 million |
| JD.com Inc. (JD) (Put) | 8.26% | $16.4 million |
| Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. (EL) | 6.63% | $13.2 million |
| Trip.com Group Ltd. (TCOM) (Put) | 6.38% | $12.7 million |
| Baidu Inc. (BIDU) (Put) | 4.62% | $9.2 million |
*As of 13F reporting on May 15 for the quarter ended March 31, 2025.
The Long Position
Estee Lauder Cos. Inc. (EL)
Percentage of portfolio: 6.6%
Burry purchased 100,000 shares of Estee Lauder in the first quarter, doubling Scion’s position to 200,000 shares, and is letting EL stand as the only long position in the portfolio as of March 31. EL comprises 6.63% of Scion’s holdings, down from 9.68% in the previous quarter, with a market value of $13.2 million. Burry hasn’t publicly commented on why Estee Lauder is the portfolio’s only long position holdout, but the stock is up 14.3% over the past month as of June 20 after a year of significant underperformance (it’s still down 32% since June 20, 2024).
EL also offers a tidy 1.9% forward dividend yield and has spread its lineup of skin care, makeup, fragrance and hair care products across several major global markets, including the Americas (30% of revenue), Europe, the Middle East and Africa (38%), and Asia-Pacific (32%). Yet analysts aren’t bullish on EL shares, pegging a $66 target price on EL, representing about a 12% decline from its June 20 closing price of $75.19.
The Short Positions
Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) (Put)
Percentage of portfolio: 49%
In the first quarter, Burry bought 900,000 put options on Nvidia valued at $97.5 million. The NVDA position now comprises 49% of all of Scion’s holdings. Nvidia shares dropped by about 19% in Q1, making Burry a big winner if he executed his NVDA put wager in time, but there’s no indication that he did so. In the past three months as of June 20, NVDA shares have turned sharply upward, returning 21.3%, meaning that if Scion held the puts, Burry may have missed out on a big payday.
Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA) (Put)Percentage of portfolio: 13.3%
Scion sold all of its 150,000 shares of this Chinese e-commerce giant, knocking off a 16.42% position in the fund. In its place, Burry made a 200,000-share bet on put option contracts valued at $26.4 million, making the BABA short play the second-largest position in the Scion portfolio. Wall Street social media channels are buzzing over Burry’s larger array of China technology shorts in the first quarter of 2025, suggesting Burry is betting that Chinese stocks will stall under U.S. tariffs, even as the Trump administration just announced yet another 90-day pause. So far, Burry looks prescient, with BABA shares down 17.5% in the past three months, primarily due to low consumer demand and to some in-company operational restructuring. BABA is working on a technology integration partnership with Apple Inc. (AAPL), but U.S. regulators are closely scrutinizing that deal.
PDD Holdings Inc. (PDD) (Put)Percentage of portfolio: 11.9%
PDD is a relatively new addition to the Scion portfolio, with Burry snapping up 75,000 shares at an estimated value of $7.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2024. Yet Burry entirely exited his firm’s position in PDD in Q1 and purchased a 200,000-put-option contract on PDD shares valued at around $23.7 million, once again betting against a big China technology brand. Again, Burry had his timing right, with online retailers Pinduoduo and Temu, divisions of PDD Holdings, suffering from tariff strife between Beijing and Washington. In particular, PDD was negatively impacted by the Trump administration’s February call for tariffs on Chinese products, in addition to the removal of a “de minimis” exemption on packages valued at less than $800 entering the U.S. For companies that sell and transport discounted goods, the tariff and trade wars are bad news for profits. PDD stock has fallen 13.8% over the past month and 22.7% over the past three months, suggesting that the tariff issue continues to haunt PDD in 2025.
[Read: 7 Ways to Shelter From a Trade War]
JD.com Inc. (JD) (Put)Percentage of portfolio: 8.3%
In late 2024, Burry had made major moves with JD shares, selling off 40% of Scion’s position in the stock while also selling out of JD put positions. The first quarter of 2025 continued half of that trend, with Burry selling out the portfolio’s remaining JD shares and replacing them with a 400,000-share put contract on the stock valued at $16.4 million. That activity made JD put options the fourth-largest position in the Burry portfolio, at about 8%.
The company has its own tariff angst. The de minimis loophole ended with the U.S. government setting a 120% tariff rate on direct-to-consumer postal goods, though it was lowered to 54% in May. Consumers have soured on the once-cheap consumer goods JD sold online, and its shares are down 25% over the past three months, giving Burry another portfolio win, at least on paper.
Trip.com Group Ltd. (TCOM) (Put)Percentage of portfolio: 6.4%
This Shanghai-based travel services company is another Burry short target, with Scion snapping up 200,000 put options on TCOM shares in Q1. A new addition to the portfolio, TCOM is yet another China retail company in a downward spiral, with its share price down 13.5% over the past three months and down 18.2% year to date. The company’s stock is trading around $56 per share as of June 23. It has solid backing from analysts, with a consensus “strong buy” call on TCOM and an average target price of $76 per share from 31 analysts who track the stock. Though it’s been a few months since he bought the puts, Burry sure doesn’t seem to see it that way, and he could be counting on the company’s consumer base to snap its wallets shut in 2025 and play defense against a souring Chinese economy.
Baidu Inc. (BIDU) (Put)Percentage of portfolio: 4.6%
Burry’s short-and-sweet Scion portfolio ends with BIDU put options, which make up 4.62% of the entire asset list with a $9.2 million market value. Baidu is often referred to as the “Google of China.” In a recent statement, CEO and co-founder Robin Li said the company’s artificial intelligence cloud business is flourishing as it moves from an internet company to an AI-first business; however, Baidu shares are down 11.3% over the past three months, making it a moderate success story for Burry, who bought 100,000 puts against BIDU in the first quarter. Not only is BIDU a victim of trade war issues with the U.S., but it’s also operating in a stagnating Chinese economy beset by an aging demographic and a teetering housing market brought about by China’s long-time “one child” policy, which was relaxed in 2016.
More from U.S. News
10 Stocks Warren Buffett Just Bought and Sold
Bill Gates Portfolio: 7 Best Stocks to Buy Now
The Complete Berkshire Hathaway Portfolio
7 Big Moves in Michael Burry’s Portfolio originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 06/23/25: This story was published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
