Michael Burry filed to withdraw Scion Asset Management's registration as an investment adviser with the Securities and Exchange Commission, effective immediately. The move ends his quarterly 13F disclosure obligations and marks the first time since 2005 that Burry's flagship vehicle operates outside public reporting requirements. The filing cites assets under management falling below the $150 million threshold that triggers mandatory SEC registration.
Scion managed $165 million across 99 accounts as of its final Form ADV filing in December 2024. The deregistration does not require Burry to liquidate positions or return capital. It removes the 45-day lag between position changes and public disclosure, granting him execution flexibility that institutional peers with $1 billion-plus mandates cannot access. Burry's last 13F, filed February 14, showed concentrated exposure to Chinese equities and broad market shorts through put options on the SPDR S&P 500 ETF. Those positions are now invisible to institutional followers who built careers reverse-engineering his portfolio.
The regulatory withdrawal follows a pattern. Burry deregistered Scion once before, in November 2008, after returning capital to outside investors post-subprime windfall. He reopened the fund in 2013 under the $150 million threshold, then re-registered in 2016 as assets scaled. This cycle suggests intentional capital management rather than performance distress. The $165 million AUM figure represents a 42 percent decline from Scion's $284 million peak in March 2022, when Burry held large positions in Meta, Alphabet, and Bristol-Myers Squibb before rotating into China.
For allocators, the deregistration creates an information vacuum. Burry's 13F filings moved markets. His Q4 2023 disclosure of a $43 million stake in Alibaba preceded a 19 percent rally in U.S.-listed Chinese ADRs over the following eight weeks. His Q2 2024 exit from U.S. regional banks signaled caution that proved prescient when New York Community Bancorp disclosed $2.4 billion in losses three months later. Without quarterly updates, that forward-looking signal disappears. The move also eliminates the arbitrage opportunity for smaller funds that historically piggyback Scion's disclosed positions within the 45-day filing window.
Operators should monitor three developments. First, whether Burry raises a new fund structure targeting sub-$150 million permanent capital from a concentrated LP base, which would allow him to maintain the operational flexibility he just secured. Second, any public commentary through his reinstated Twitter account, which he uses sporadically to telegraph macro views without position-level detail. Third, whether other high-conviction managers with $150 million to $300 million AUM follow this path, particularly those running concentrated books where disclosure creates front-running risk.
Burry is not retiring. He is removing the 45-day disadvantage.