Michael Burry Wants Markets to “Tank Hard” Before the OpenAI IPO, and Microsoft Is Exposed

Key Takeaways

• Michael Burry posted that markets should “tank hard” to stop the OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs, a day before headlines that OpenAI is reportedly in talks to raise $30 billion at a $1.4 trillion valuation.
• According to Fareed Zakaria, OpenAI has about $750 billion of spending commitments through 2030 against roughly $40 billion of revenue this year, so it needs public investors to pay its bills.
• Microsoft’s exposure goes beyond its OpenAI stake, because its own capital spending depends on OpenAI being able to keep paying for compute.
• The thing to watch is whether the IPO window stays open, since that window is how OpenAI plans to fund its commitments.

Michael Burry, the investor made famous by The Big Short, has a request for the stock market. (It’s not a small one.)

“For the benefit of humanity, the markets should tank hard and prevent the OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs,” he posted on X on Tuesday.

A follower replied that the labs would lose…