‘Big Short’ icon Michael Burry unloads on Elon Musk, calls Tesla ‘ridiculously overvalued’

Michael Burry tore into Tesla’s sky-high valuation, blasting the electric-vehicle giant as “ridiculously overvalued” in a fresh broadside that marked his most pointed attack on the company in years.

The investor of “The Big Short” fame took to his new Substack platform late Sunday to argue that Tesla’s market cap has been inflated for a long stretch and that Elon Musk’s newly approved $1 trillion pay package will further dilute the company’s stock.

“Tesla’s market capitalization is ridiculously overvalued today and has been for a good long time,” wrote Burry, whose prescient position on the 2008 financial crisis made him the star of Michael Lewis’ “The Big Short,” which was later turned into a movie.

The Austin-based EV maker is worth $1.38 trillion, with stock trading at around $427 a share as of Monday morning.

Burry depicted Tesla fans as gleefully leaping from delusional storyline to another, writing that “the Elon cult was all-in on electric cars until competition showed up, then all-in on autonomous driving until competition showed up, and now is all-in on robots — until competition shows up.”

The critique marked Burry’s latest attack on what he now argues is a tech bubble stretching across multiple companies.

He recently disclosed bearish positions against Nvidia and Palantir, clashing with both firms over what he calls a market frenzy disconnected from business fundamentals. Palantir CEO Alex Karp responded by calling Burry “bats–t crazy.”

Burry’s return to public commentary has coincided with a major shift in his investment approach. He deregistered his hedge fund last month and launched his Substack days later, promising more direct, unfiltered analysis.

The Post has sought comment from Tesla.

Burry’s comments put him on a long list of skeptics who say Tesla’s valuation cannot be justified. Shares trade at more than 250 times the company’s earnings, far above other automakers.

Musk has made short-sellers one of his favored targets, accusing them of spreading misinformation and attempting to manipulate the stock for profit. Last year, he predicted that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates would be “obliterated” for shorting Tesla stock.

In a 2017 interview he called short sellers “jerks who want us to die,” adding: “They’re constantly trying to make up false rumors and amplify any negative rumors. It’s a really big incentive to lie and attack my integrity. It’s really awful.”

Musk has also questioned the basic legitimacy of short-selling.

Burry’s previous wager against Tesla came in 2021, when he built a sizable short position worth hundreds of millions of dollars before exiting that same year, calling it “just a trade,” Reuters noted.

This time, his argument centers on both competition and what he views as excessive optimism baked into Tesla’s share price.

Tesla still held about 41% of the US electric vehicle market as of August, but the figure has declined as other automakers have released more EV models.

Even with rising competition, Tesla’s stock has gained 11% this year, rebounding from a wobble earlier in 2025 tied to Dogecoin-related volatility.

Investors have cheered Tesla’s rollout of robo-taxis and reaffirmed support for Musk’s enormous incentive package, which depends on the company reaching an $8.5 trillion market capitalization over the next decade — nearly twice the value of chip giant Nvidia.

Tesla’s valuation has long been a lightning rod, drawing market veterans who view the stock as untethered from conventional metrics.

In 2023, Jim Chanos, the prominent hedge fund manager and short seller, said that the shares were overvalued. Others have echoed the critique over years of bruising short-seller battles that ended with many detractors suffering steep losses as Tesla’s stock surged.