Michael Burry says he's shorting AI stars Oracle and Nebius

Aug 07, 2026 09:12 PM - 1 month ago 370

Michael Burry says he's shorting Oracle and Nebius, 2 companies that are betting large connected the AI boom.

The investor of "The Big Short" fame said successful a Substack post connected Thursday that while researching the 4th portion of a bid titled "The Heretic's Guide to AI's Stars," he'd shorted the 2 stocks "because my activity conscionable wouldn't fto maine proceed without doing so."

Writing broadly astir AI companies, Burry compared them to food successful a barrel.

"The food person gorged themselves connected off-balance expanse liabilities. Backstops. Uncommenced leases. Purchase commitments," he wrote. "The food person gotten very fat, very large, easy to shoot."

"Also, truthful ample that it shan't beryllium agelong earlier each past 1 keels complete for deficiency of oxygen," he added.

Burry said he'd shorted Oracle banal astatine astir $145. The enterprise-software giant's shares soared from beneath $130 to astir $350 betwixt April and September past year, arsenic the AI roar fueled beardown request for its cloud infrastructure.

But they've tumbled astir 60% since past connected mounting concerns that Oracle has taken connected too overmuch debt during its data-center buildout.

As for Nebius, Burry said he'd shorted it "in somewhat larger size" astatine astir $212 a share. The AI unreality infrastructure company's banal fell 13% to $190 connected Thursday, but rallied 5% successful Friday's premarket.

Nebius shares person still much than doubled this year, and person leaped astir ninefold wrong the past 2 years.

Oracle, Nebius, and Burry didn't instantly respond to requests for remark from Business Insider.

'Bit of a pickle'

Burry has been 1 of the most vocal skeptics of the AI buildout, informing that Big Tech companies are overinvesting successful microchips and information centers that could quickly go outdated.

In contrast, bulls constituent to the accelerated maturation rates astatine AI companies and opportunity they're only getting started.

Oracle's remaining capacity obligations, a measurement of full early statement revenue, soared 363% to $638 cardinal successful the twelvemonth ended May 31.

Nebius' gross soared astir sevenfold year-on-year successful the first 4th to almost $400 million. Its deferred gross surged by astir 150% complete 3 months to $686 cardinal connected March 31.

Burry is champion known for predicting and profiting from the illness of the mid-2000s lodging bubble. His contrarian wager was chronicled successful the book and movie "The Big Short." He pivoted from moving a hedge money to penning astir his individual investments precocious past year.

He's been negative connected Oracle for galore months, penning successful a caller remark connected his Substack, Cassandra Unchained, that it "does look to beryllium successful a spot of a pickle."

"This mightiness beryllium the astir costly tragic autumn for a very agelong time, a Homeresque ain extremity by a modern deity," he wrote. "Did not person to beryllium this way."

Burry said successful an August 4 station that he'd exited a bearish wager he'd placed against Oracle utilizing put options. "The profit location was substantial, and truthful I near it astatine that," he wrote, adding that little volatility mightiness punctual him to bargain caller puts.

Back successful January, Burry said successful a station that he owned bearish puts connected Oracle banal and had shorted it during the 2nd half of 2025. He explained that he didn't for illustration the company's positioning and its investments, and recovered its AI strategy to beryllium inexplicable and unnecessary.

In the chat thread for his latest post, he wrote that Nebius faces a "ton of execution risk" fixed the precocious costs and agelong leases successful the information halfway business, and the trouble of winning semipermanent commitments from customers.

Theron Mohamed is simply a London-based analogous connected the Trending squad astatine Business Insider. His sum spans finance, investing, wealth, markets, and the economy.Theron joined BI successful 2019 arsenic a newsman astatine Markets Insider and roseate to the rank of analogous earlier moving to the Trending squad successful 2024. He previously covered tech, media, and telecom stocks for Investors Chronicle mag and had a little stint connected the Financial Times' Data team. He interned astatine the Wall Street Journal successful New York wherever he chiefly wrote for Heard connected the Street.Theron has freelanced for The Independent, The Telegraph, WIRED, and respective smaller publications. He holds an undergraduate grade successful surface science from the London School of Economics, and a master's grade successful publicity from Columbia University.Theron often covers Warren Buffett, Michael Burry, Jeremy Grantham and different top-flight investors. He besides writes astir the world's wealthiest group and shares financial proposal from each mode of rich | and successful people.Email Theron astatine [email protected] and travel him connected X @theron_mohamed.Expertise

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