Earning $100 Million This Year! Better to Be an "Influencer" Than "The Big Short"

Suffering heavy losses from shorting AI stocks while potentially making a fortune selling subscriptions—Michael Burry's most profitable business this year might not be stock trading, but blogging.

"The Big Short" Michael Burry's Substack investment newsletter, "Cassandra Unchained," surpassed 300,000 subscribers in just 231 days. Based on an annual fee of $379, the theoretical annual revenue is approximately $113.7 million.

How intuitive is this figure? According to Stocktwits, if $1 million were invested equally in the top 10 performing stocks in the S&P 500 this year, the total return would be around $34 million—less than one-third of Burry's theoretical newsletter income.

300,000 Subscribers in 231 Days

In a post titled "Short & Thankful: 300," Burry disclosed that "Cassandra Unchained" had reached 300,044 subscribers and 346,680 followers. Subscribers come from all 50 U.S. states and 212 countries, with 52% located outside the United States.

Data shows that the "Cassandra Unchained" newsletter had approximately 218,000 followers in January this year, growing to nearly 347,000 by July, with a consistently upward growth curve.

The newsletter is priced at $39 per month or $379 per year, with a free tier also available. Burry has not disclosed the specific proportion of paid subscribers. Substack's subscriber count includes both free and paid readers, and the above calculation does not deduct Substack's platform fees. Therefore, $113.7 million represents the theoretical upper limit, not the actual net income.

Burry launched the newsletter in November 2025, shortly after deregistering his hedge fund with the SEC, returning to social media, and restarting his criticism of the AI hype. The newsletter attracted over 60,000 subscribers upon launch and has since evolved into his primary platform for releasing real-time position updates, valuation analyses, and detailed trading records.

Going Long on Value Stocks: PayPal, Lululemon, Alibaba

In the newsletter, Burry continues to disclose specific trades.

In April this year, he publicly revealed a major position for the first time, establishing a stake in PayPal Holdings (PYPL) at around $49, accounting for 3.5% of his portfolio. He listed it as his top pick in the software and payments sector, prioritizing it over Fiserv (FI) and Adobe (ADBE). He subsequently added to his PayPal position near $45 and simultaneously bought Fiserv. In the same month, he also established positions in Adobe, Autodesk (ADSK), and Veeva Systems (VEEV), reasoning that "panic over AI disruption has pushed software valuations below their intrinsic value."

In April, he also reaffirmed his confidence in Molina Healthcare (MOH), stating that market expectations had "hit rock bottom." He indicated he would continue to add to the position, as the investment thesis is built on normalized earnings over the next few years.

In June, Burry turned his attention to Lululemon Athletica (LULU), adding to his position multiple times. He stated bluntly, "Bad management is a value investor's best friend." He believes Wall Street is overly focused on management missteps, tariffs, and slowing growth, while ignoring its long-term value.

Regarding Chinese assets, Burry disclosed in April that he held over 6% of Alibaba's shares and continued to add to his position in JD.com (JD). Last week, he stated that JD.com is one of his top three holdings, noting that "as enthusiasm for AI and memory chips fades, capital will rotate into Hong Kong and Chinese stocks."

Shorting AI Stocks: NVIDIA, Micron Tech, Palantir

Meanwhile, Burry has been continuously expanding his short positions in AI and semiconductor stocks.

In April, he disclosed holding additional put options on NVIDIA (NVDA), including contracts with a $115 strike price expiring in January 2027, while retaining his previous $100 put options. On June 30, he escalated the trade to directly shorting NVIDIA, establishing the position at $198.09. The same update disclosed new short positions in Applied Materials (AMAT), the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), Tesla (TSLA), and Caterpillar (CAT), comparing the current semiconductor boom to the dot-com bubble.

"The direct trigger for today's rally is South Korea's announcement of massive spending. I think this is the beginning of the end," Burry said.

Earlier this month, he disclosed directly shorting Micron Tech (MU), stating that the memory chip manufacturer's deviation from its 200-day moving average has exceeded any point since 1984.

Regarding Palantir Technologies (PLTR), Burry has maintained one of Wall Street's most watched short positions since first disclosing it last November. Although he partially closed the position, he reiterated in June that there are "no signs of seller capitulation or exhaustion yet."

The Cost of Being Short: Market "Slap in the Face"

However, reality is not on Burry's side.

Year-to-date, many of the stocks he shorted have significantly outperformed the broader market. The S&P 500 ETF (SPY) is up 22%, the Nasdaq 100 ETF (QQQ) is up 31%, while NVIDIA is up 29%, AMAT has surged 206%, and Micron Tech has skyrocketed 697%.

Shorting these stocks means Burry has incurred substantial paper losses on these positions.

This is precisely why his newsletter income is so noteworthy—while facing pressure on the trading front, "The Big Short's" other business may quietly be becoming his largest source of income this year.