Michael Burry Cancels 40% Substack Price Hike Plan After Pushback - Denies 'Money Grab' Motive

(MENAFN- AsiaNet News)

• Burry canceled plans to increase Substack fee by over 40%, keeping subscriptions at $49 monthly and $479 annually.
• He said higher fees were intended to protect the community and discourage short-term signups and content sharing.
• Burry said Cassandra Unchained reached 402,000 followers and 343,000 subscribers, ranking No.1 on Substack's Rising list.

“The Big Short” investor Michael Burry has scrapped plans to increase his subscription fees by over 40% after reader pushback, while defending higher prices as a way to protect his community rather than a“money grab.”

Cassandra Unchained will remain at $49 a month and $479 annually. Burry had previously planned to charge new subscribers $69 monthly and $679 annually from Nov.1, marking increases of 41% and 42%, respectively.

Burry Calls Off Fee Hike, Defends His Reasons

“My Cassandra Unchained Substack will NOT have a pricing increase on November 1,” Burry said on X.“I heard and listened.” In a separate Substack note, he cited“accessibility and continuity” in keeping the current fees.“Come November 1, nothing at all will change,” he said.

Burry also reiterated that subscribers could retain their original rate and plan as long as they renewed continuously. Existing subscribers had already been promised protection from the proposed increase.

Responding to questions about the increase, Burry said Substack had not pressured him to raise fees. He explained that higher prices were intended to preserve the quality of the newsletter's community.“However, subscription price increases are not the money grab some see it as,” he said in his Substack chat.

Burry said cheaper access made it easier for people to join briefly, take shots and circulate material outside the newsletter.“At lower prices, more will sign up for a month to get their shots in and spread info from inside CU around social media,” he said.“I am making it more expensive for them, not for existing subscribers.”

Readers Challenge Price Of Access

Readers expressed several views on whether higher fees would improve the community. One reader said that a higher price would not necessarily keep out the people Burry wanted to discourage and could instead limit the newsletter's reach.“To do anything of real significance you need to reach significant number of people not to create barriers of any sort, including raising price of your Substack,” the reader said.

Another reader questioned the increase in light of their investment experience.“The reality is most investments I have made based on recommendations and analysis in CU have lost significant value since my purchases, which I understand may change over time,” the reader said.

The same reader said they had sold Nvidia at a sizable gain after discussions about circular financing and an AI crash, but believed they had missed further upside.

Cassandra Unchained Hits 343,000 Subscribers

Burry said Cassandra Unchained marked its first year on Substack with 402,000 followers, 343,000 subscribers and the No.1 spot on the platform's Rising list.

Applying the proposed $679 annual fee to the earlier count of 342,000 subscribers would have implied $232.2 million in annual gross revenue. However, the hypothetical calculation assumed every subscriber paid the new rate, without accounting for free readers or existing members retaining lower prices.

Burry Revisits 2000 And Looks Beyond The S & P 500

In his latest post over the weekend, Burry compared the market with the 2000 dot-com peak, highlighting narrow leadership and stretched valuations.“Turns out today the S & P 500 is about as expensive a market as it was in 2000, looking at a fully adjusted apples-to-apples earnings multiple,” he said.

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment for the SPDR S & P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) and Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) was 'extremely bearish,' with 'normal' message volume for SPY and 'high' volume for QQQ. Sentiment toward the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF Trust (DIA) was 'bearish' amid 'normal' message volume.

He said that stocks already down sharply from their highs could outperform market leaders in a repeat of the 2000 downturn, while acknowledging that they could also fall alongside the broader market. Burry also outlined possible changes to his holdings.

“I will consider selling, reducing or donating long-held securities that have performed well but have become stretched in terms of valuation,” he said.“Walmart, Alphabet, Valero and a few others like them come to mind.” He also called Build-A-Bear attractive at current levels and said he would continue seeking investments outside the S & P 500.

For updates and corrections, email newsroom[at]stocktwits[dot]com.

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