Michael Burry Exited Every Chinese Tech Holding and Bought MercadoLibre

On May 15, 2026, Scion Asset Management filed its Q1 2026 13F. Michael Burry had liquidated every Chinese technology position in the book, initiated new positions in MercadoLibre, Adobe, PayPal, and Lululemon, and reduced the portfolio to nine total names. He had also confirmed the MercadoLibre buy publicly on his Substack on May 9, before the 13F deadline, which is unusually direct for a manager who normally lets the filing speak for itself.

Key facts at a glance

• Scion fully exited its entire Chinese technology basket in Q1 2026, per the 13F filing on SEC EDGAR.
• New positions were initiated in MercadoLibre (MELI), Adobe (ADBE), PayPal (PYPL), and Lululemon (LULU), per Foreign Policy Journal’s filing summary.
• The MercadoLibre buy was confirmed by Burry on his public Substack on May 9, 2026, before the 13F deadline. He described the entry point as “the 1,600s,” following a 13% post-earnings drop.
• The Scion portfolio is now nine total positions. Burry’s books tend to be small by count and concentrated by weight.
• Specific dollar-value and share-count figures for ADBE, PYPL, and LULU were not surfaced cleanly in available sources. The full filing is the operative reference. Treat individual position sizes as filing-dependent rather than confirmed.

Who is Michael Burry

Michael Burry founded Scion Capital in 2000 and Scion Asset Management in 2013. He is the investor whose pre-2008 sub-prime mortgage short was depicted in The Big Short. Scion runs a small, concentrated portfolio with a history of contrarian and frequently short-thesis-adjacent positioning. Burry’s commentary, when it appears, surfaces on Twitter (and now Substack) rather than through formal letters.

The Scion 13F is one of the most-watched single quarterly filings on the calendar, partly because the portfolio is small enough that every name in the book is significant, and partly because Burry’s calls in past cycles have meaningfully moved sentiment in the names involved.

What the 13F actually shows

The Q1 2026 13F has two readable threads. One is the China exit. The other is a basket of beaten-down US large-cap consumer and SaaS names.

Move	Position	Notes
Full exit	Chinese technology holdings	entire China book liquidated
Initiate	MercadoLibre (MELI)	confirmed on Burry’s Substack May 9
Initiate	Adobe (ADBE)	new position
Initiate	PayPal (PYPL)	new position
Initiate	Lululemon (LULU)	new position
Total positions	9	concentrated by design

The China exit is the cleanest part of the filing. Scion had held Alibaba, JD.com, and Baidu in prior quarters. Liquidating the entire grouping in one quarter is a macro statement.

The four new initiations cluster differently. MercadoLibre, Adobe, PayPal, and Lululemon are all large-cap, US-listed (MELI through ADR), and all had been under significant downside pressure into Q1 2026. Three of the four operate at the intersection of e-commerce, payments, and SaaS subscription revenue. Lululemon is the odd name out, more consumer-discretionary than SaaS, but fits the broader “beaten-down high-quality compounder” frame.

Why this matters

Three angles are worth tracking.

First, Burry exiting China entirely after holding the basket through earlier cycles is a macro move, not a name-by-name view. Whether Scion sees a structural US-China decoupling deepening, a regulatory overhang specific to Chinese tech ADR delistings, or simply that better risk-reward sits elsewhere is not in the filing. The all-three-at-once shape says “out of the sector” rather than “I disagree with this one company.”

Second, the MercadoLibre Substack disclosure is unusual. Burry rarely pre-announces positions in writing. He confirmed the MELI entry at “the 1,600s” after MELI dropped 13% post-earnings. That timeline is reconstructible from public price charts and validates that the position was sized during a clear drawdown.

Third, the SaaS basket reads as a contrarian dip-buy. Adobe and PayPal had both been pressured by competitive-disruption narratives, in Adobe’s case from generative-AI design tools and in PayPal’s case from the broader fintech-to-incumbent rotation. Burry initiating both in the same filing is a coherent “the market overshot on quality” thesis, more so than any single name on its own.

What this 13F does not tell you

Scion’s filings are smaller than most 13Fs but they share the same blind spots, plus a few that matter more here.

• No put options or short positions. Scion’s previous filings have shown notional put exposure that exceeded the long book in dollar terms. The Q1 2026 13F long-only view leaves any options book invisible.
• No timing inside the quarter. The MELI entry can be cross-checked against Burry’s Substack timing, but the Adobe, PayPal, and Lululemon entries are unmarked.
• No conviction signal. A small portfolio’s new names are large by construction. Position weight does not equal high conviction the way it does in a larger book.
• No exits beyond China. The filing shows current holdings, not what was held briefly during the quarter and exited before March 31.
• No statement of thesis. Burry’s Substack and Twitter are the only places his reasoning surfaces, and that reasoning is often partial.

How this compares with Burry’s recent quarters

Period	Notable pattern
2023 to early 2025	Recurring put-option positions; visible bear posture on US large caps
Late 2025	Chinese tech basket maintained; equity book small
Q1 2026	Full China exit; four new US-listed initiations; nine total positions
Implied move	From bear-leaning to selectively long quality at perceived dislocation

The Q1 2026 filing is not a directional reversal across the entire book. It is a rotation: out of one specific basket, into another specific basket, with the total position count staying small.

FAQ

Did Burry exit all of his Chinese stocks?

The available reporting indicates the entire Chinese technology basket was liquidated in Q1 2026. The 13F is the definitive record. Verify the full position list directly on the SEC EDGAR filing.

How big is the MercadoLibre position?

Burry confirmed an entry around “the 1,600s” on his Substack. Specific share-count and dollar-value figures from the filing should be read off the 13F itself. Press summaries available before publishing this article did not contain confirmed dollar sizing.

Is this a buy signal for Adobe, PayPal, or Lululemon?

No. A 13F initiation by any manager, including Burry, is one data point. It indicates only that the manager held the position at quarter-end. It is not a recommendation, and it does not show the conviction level, the price entry, or the size relative to the manager’s full risk book.

Why exit China and buy US-listed consumer and SaaS names in the same quarter?

The 13F does not say. The pattern is consistent with a “out of the sector that just blew up, into the sector that just sold off on perceived disruption” rotation. That is one reading. There are others.

Where can I read Burry directly?

He posts irregularly on Substack and on Twitter. Treat both as commentary, not as filings.