In 2024, Michael Burry, a legendary investor who gained his fame by executing ‘The Big Short’ during the Great Recession, became known and somewhat controversial for his extensive holdings of three Chinese companies: Alibaba (NYSE: BABA), JD.com (NASDAQ: JD), and Baidu (NASDAQ: BIDU).
Of the three, at least according to the most recent available filings, BABA stock has been the most discussed as the most famous company in the mix and as the largest holding of the Scion Asset Management portfolio.
Despite the persistence and the size of the investment, it has not been a top performer among Burry’s stock picks.
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Is Michael Burry down on his BABA stock bet?
Specifically, with its price of $84.73 at the start of 2025, Alibaba stock is well below its all-time highs (ATH), somewhat below its initial public price, and even below the most likely prices the famed trader might have purchased the first batch of the currently-held shares.
Indeed, though he had owned BABA briefly in 2019, as well as in late 2022 and early 2023, ‘The Big Short’ investor started creating his current position in the third quarter (Q3) of 2023.
At the time, Alibaba shares were trading in the trimester range between about $80 and approximately $100. Though such a spread means that there is a possibility Burry is in the green on the original 50,000 shares, it is far from certain.
Furthermore, the purchasing strategy reminiscent of dollar-cost averaging has, by press time, not ensured solid returns as Alibaba stock is, with its press time price, trading relatively near the mid-point of its 18-month range.
Why Michael Burry might have greatly profited from his Alibaba stock investment
Still, it is worth remembering that the latest available data has an endpoint on September 30, 2024 – the time Chinese stocks were going parabolic on the initial hopes for the country’s market stimulus plan.
If Burry had cleared his Alibaba stock position in the initial days of October when BABA shares were changing hands at about $115, he would have made a hefty profit on the stake valued at approximately $21 million at the time.
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