A Billionaire vs. the "Last Bear": What Burry and Cuban Are Arguing About

Investor Michael Burry, whose successful strategy during the 2008 mortgage crisis formed the basis of the movie *The Big Short*, and tech billionaire Mark Cuban debated the legacy of the dot-com crash on the social media platform X. Business Insider drew attention to their discussion.

Burry, who has been warning of the risk of a “Black Monday”-style market crash, posted a rhetorical question on X on August 7: “Am I the last bear?” On the day this post was published, the S&P 500 U.S. stock index hit yet another record high.

Mark Cuban responded to Burry's post. In his reply, he repeated the famous saying, “In a bull market, everyone is a genius,” emphasizing that rising asset prices can create the illusion of competence in virtually any investor, according to Business Insider.

At the same time, in another post, Burry criticized the main beneficiaries of the dot-com era, drawing historical parallels with the current market. He noted that between the collapse of the Long-Term Capital Management hedge fund in 1998 and the market crash in March 2000, stock prices had completely lost touch with fundamental economic indicators.

“During that period, a bunch of complete idiots cobbled together some permanent estates,” Burry noted. “We still hear from one of them on a regular basis.”

Burry didn't mention any specific names, but Cuban—one of the most famous entrepreneurs who built his fortune during that very period—decided to respond. “Total idiots 😂,” Cuban commented, posting a link to his post from last year. It lists 13 patent applications that the legal department of his company, Broadcast.com, had prepared for filing shortly before its $5.7 billion acquisition by Yahoo in 1999. That deal made Cuban one of the most prominent beneficiaries of the dot-com era, notes Business Insider.

This exchange of views took place against a backdrop of concern among both investors about signs of a speculative bubble forming in the AI infrastructure sector. At the same time, as Business Insider notes, despite the public debate, Burry and Cuban’s positions on this issue largely coincide.

Burry warns that, amid the hype surrounding AI, investors are ignoring the fundamental overvaluation of assets, while technology companies are pouring unjustified funds into infrastructure that risks becoming obsolete quickly.

The investor views the current abnormal market rally as a sign of an imminent large-scale crash. He sees the overheated semiconductor sector as the main threat. In line with his “bearish” forecasts, the investor is actively betting on a decline in tech giants, holding short positions in Nvidia, Tesla, Micron, and Palantir.

Kuban shares this skepticism: he notes that further increases in technological efficiency could render some of the AI infrastructure currently under construction redundant. In an interview in June 2026, the billionaire added with a touch of irony that, in the long run, the massive data centers currently under construction may have to be repurposed as indoor pickleball courts—a sport that is gaining popularity and combines elements of tennis, badminton, and ping-pong.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor