Michael Burry, the investor made famous by “The Big Short,” said on X on Tuesday, September 30, 2026, that a sharp market sell-off would be good for humanity if it stopped OpenAI and Anthropic from going public. The post targets the two biggest planned AI IPOs.
The comment landed two days after Reuters reported details of Anthropic’s draft listing documents, and weeks after OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman said his company would not list this year. Burry’s remarks are his personal opinion, not a forecast that markets will actually fall, and nothing here is investment advice.
What Burry Posted on X
Business Insider’s headline described the idea as being for the “good of humanity,” but Burry’s own wording was slightly different. According to the Business Insider report syndicated on AOL and a Seeking Alpha write-up, he wrote:
“For the benefit of humanity, the markets should tank hard and prevent the OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs.”
He followed with a second line explaining why he sees the two companies as a danger to investors and beyond:
“These are companies that are going suck up and then destroy TRILLIONS of dollars of capital, and that will be the least of the damage they do.”
Burry did not spell out in the post what “damage” beyond capital losses he had in mind. He has, however, spent much of the past year arguing that the money pouring into chips and data centers will not earn back its cost.
Why the AI IPOs Worry Him
The skepticism is not new. Burry has repeatedly questioned whether frontier AI spending can produce adequate returns, and he has backed that view with bearish positions on companies tied to the build-out. Business Insider reported that he has increased bets against Nvidia, Palantir, Micron, Oracle and the Nasdaq 100, arguing that debt-fueled spending on chips and data centers is unsustainable while interest rates stay higher.
In a post this week on his Substack newsletter, Cassandra Unchained, Burry said weekend research had convinced him the AI bubble may burst sooner than he expected. Business Insider reported he wrote that he was “more confident than ever” his bearish thesis would play out within a year, earlier than the 2028 base case he had previously laid out. The Motley Fool reported that he swapped some short stock positions for put options on Nvidia, Micron and Palantir, and that he has warned AI spending could fuel a 1987-style crash.
Seen in that light, the two listings are a logical target for him. A successful debut would hand both companies access to public-market money on a scale few private firms have ever tapped, which is exactly the capital flow Burry believes will be wasted.
Inside the Anthropic IPO Prospectus
The numbers behind Burry’s “TRILLIONS” line come largely from Anthropic’s own paperwork. In an exclusive published September 28, Reuters reporter Echo Wang described an Anthropic IPO prospectus that the news agency had seen. Key figures it reported:
- Anthropic plans to spend $518 billion on cloud, computing and infrastructure obligations in coming years, most of which cannot be cancelled.
- The company reported a net loss of $42 billion in 2025, which included a roughly $34 billion accounting charge tied to the rising estimated value of financing that could eventually convert into shares.
- On an operating basis, Anthropic lost more than $8 billion, with the operating loss widening to about $8.06 billion from $2.98 billion in 2024.
- Revenue grew 12-fold in 2025 to nearly $4.6 billion, while spending on compute and infrastructure tripled to $7.33 billion.
Reuters reported that the listing could value Anthropic at more than $2 trillion, more than double the $965 billion valuation announced in May, and that the debut is likely to be pushed until after the November US midterm elections. The company’s chief executive has also been vocal about AI risk, as in his recent warning about AI botnet threats.
The headline loss and the operating picture tell different stories. Roughly $34 billion of the $42 billion was an accounting charge rather than cash spent running the business, a distinction critics and supporters are likely to argue over as the offering approaches.
OpenAI IPO Pushed Past 2026
OpenAI’s timeline is further out. In a Fortune interview reported on September 12, Altman said “right now would be an ill-advised moment to go public,” citing safety work on more capable models. Asked whether that ruled out this year, he answered “not 2026,” according to 24/7 Wall St. Business Insider reported that the company has pushed any OpenAI IPO to 2027.
That leaves Anthropic as the more immediate test. If it lists in late 2026 at anything near the reported valuation, it would be one of the largest market debuts on record, and the reception will shape how investors view OpenAI’s plans the following year.
A Familiar Role for a Famous Bear
Burry built his reputation betting against the US housing market before the 2008 financial crisis, a trade later dramatized in “The Big Short.” Since then his public calls have had a mixed record, and some coverage has pointed out that he now runs a paid newsletter, which gives him a platform and an audience for bearish views.
His post also lands at a moment when short sellers and skeptics are more visible across hot sectors, from AI to space, as seen in recent bets against a SpaceX proxy fund. Supporters of the AI build-out argue the revenue growth in documents like Anthropic’s shows real demand. Burry’s answer, for now, is that the spending is far ahead of what that demand can pay for.
Whether markets cooperate with his wish is another matter. For the AI IPOs to be derailed, a downturn would have to hit before Anthropic prices its shares and persist into OpenAI’s 2027 window. Neither company has commented publicly on Burry’s post that NarwhalTV could find, and his remarks remain one investor’s opinion rather than a market forecast.
