According to Inc, Michael Burry, the investor famous from “The Big Short,” is launching a paid newsletter called “Cassandra Unchained” on the Substack platform. This move comes just one month after he announced in October that he was closing his hedge fund, Scion Asset Management. Burry stated that his new publication will focus on stocks, market trends, and investment manias, drawing from his 25 years of experience. He plans to publish one or more pieces each week, potentially including Q&As, videos, and guest writers. In his letter to investors, he explained that his valuation estimates had not been “in sync with the markets” for some time.
From Fund Manager to Publisher
So Burry is essentially swapping the high-pressure world of running a hedge fund for the more direct, subscription-based model of a newsletter. It’s a fascinating pivot. Here’s the thing: when a manager closes their fund, it’s often a quiet affair. But Burry is choosing to remain very much in the public eye, just in a different capacity. He’s not retiring from sharing his views; he’s just changing the medium and, crucially, owning his platform. This gives him complete control over his content and his relationship with his audience, free from the constraints of institutional investors.
Why This Makes Sense Now
Look, the timing isn’t a coincidence. Burry explicitly said his investment philosophy was out of sync with the market. Running a fund in that environment is brutal—you’re constantly justifying your performance to limited partners. A newsletter, however, lets him voice his contrarian opinions without the immediate pressure of managing other people’s money day-to-day. He can be the Cassandra, warning of impending doom, and his subscribers are there specifically for that perspective. It’s a pure expression of his brand. And let’s be honest, his notoriety from “The Big Short” gives him a built-in audience that most aspiring newsletter writers can only dream of.
The Bigger Trend of Financial Influencers
This is part of a much larger trend of financial professionals going direct-to-consumer. We’ve seen it with other fund managers stepping away from traditional structures to build their own branded businesses. The economics can be incredibly attractive if you have a loyal following. Instead of charging hefty management and performance fees from a small group of wealthy investors, you charge a smaller subscription fee to a much larger group of retail followers. It democratizes access, in a way, but it also raises questions. Is the advice scalable? And what happens when a market call goes wrong for thousands of individual subscribers instead of a handful of sophisticated institutions? It’s a whole new risk profile.
