'Big Short' investor Michael Burry warns Tesla will face tougher competition — and points to Netflix's rivals slashing its growth last quarter
- Michael Burry predicted Tesla would follow Netflix in facing tougher competition.
- "The Big Short" investor bet against Elon Musk's electric-vehicle company in 2021.
Michael Burry, the prophetic investor of "The Big Short" fame, warned Tesla's rivals would catch up with the electric-vehicle maker, just as Netflix's competitors are now curbing the video-streaming service's growth.
"The competition came for Netflix just like the competition is coming for Tesla," Burry said in a now-deleted tweet on Tuesday.
He was referring to Netflix's first-quarter earnings, which showed its revenue growth slowed to 10%, and its global paid subscriber base shrunk for the first time in more than a decade. The bad news sent Netflix shares down as much as 26% in premarket trading on Wednesday.
"We're definitely feeling a heightened level of competition for sure," Netflix co-CEO Ted Sarandos said on the company's first-quarter earnings call, referring to the launch of Disney Plus, HBO Max, and other streaming services in recent years.
Burry, who runs Scion Asset Management, shot to fame after he predicted and profited from the collapse of the mid-2000s housing bubble. He also invested in GameStop, and pushed for changes at the video-games retailer in the summer of 2019, paving the way for the stock to skyrocket in January 2021 and spark the broader meme-stock craze.
The Scion chief has ridiculed Tesla's lofty valuation, and bet against its stock. He also accused Musk of selling Tesla shares last year not to pay more taxes, but to take advantage of an inflated stock price and pay off personal debts.
"Burry is a broken clock," Musk fired back, referring to Burry's frequent predictions of market crashes.
In recent days, Burry has appeared to welcome Musk's efforts to take control of Twitter, while Musk has playfully insulted Burry for shorting Tesla.
Here's a screenshot of Burry's now-deleted tweet:
