Michael Burry Doubles Stake in Jack Ma's Alibaba, More Than Triples Bet On Its Chinese Rival

"The Big Short" investor Michael Burry has boosted his fund's exposure to Chinese e-commerce stocks during the first quarter of 2023 while scooping up regional U.S. lender stocks during the banking sector turmoil, according to the latest 13 F filing posted on the SEC website.

According to the document, Burry has doubled his fund's stake in Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (NYSE:BABA) to 100,000 shares during the quarter and more than tripled its stake in JD.Com Inc (NASDAQ:JD) to 250,000 shares. That takes Scion Asset Management's stake in both these stocks to over $10 million.

Also Read: How to Buy Alibaba (BABA) Stock

Alibaba shares are down close to 4% since the beginning of the year but JD shares have lost over 34% during the period, as per data on Benzinga Pro. Burry had loaded up on these stocks even during the fourth quarter.

Regional Banks: At the same time, the fund has also made fresh investments in regional U.S. bank stocks, possibly bottom-fishing the shares when the banking sector was going through turmoil in March in the wake of the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

SEC documents show Burry picked up fresh stakes in Capital One Financial Corp. (NYSE:COF), First Republic Bank, Huntington Bancshares Incorporated (NASDAQ:HBAN), New York Community Bancorp, Inc. (NYSE:NYCB), PacWest Bancorp (NASDAQ:PACW) and Western Alliance Bancorporation (NYSE:WAL) during the quarter.

Scion bought 850,000 shares of New York Community Bancorp, 250,000 shares of PacWest and 150,000 shares of First Republic Bank during the quarter. PacWest shares are down over 76% since the beginning of the year while Western Alliance stock has lost over 47% during the period.

First Republic Bank collapsed in early May but it is not yet clear whether Scion Asset Management offloaded its shares before that as 13F filings only provide positions held during the quarter.

Ironically, Burry's rise to prominence came on the back of successfully shorting the housing market using credit default swaps to take short positions on collateralized debt obligations – a type of security pitched and sold to investors like hotcakes by many U.S. banks.

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