The Big Short: Michael Burry's Scion Dumps Boeing Shares Amid Struggle With COVID-19, 737 MAX Crises

The massive wealth management firm has dumped its shares in a major US aerospace firm battered by numerous challenges, following similar moves amid a major economic crisis in the late 2000s in the United States.
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Michael Burry's wealth management company, Scion Asset Management, has divested its shares in Boeing Co, Seeking Alpha reported on Thursday.

According to the report, Mr Burry bought 80,000 call options in Google parent company Alphabet, valued at $113m, as well a a $8.4m stake in Trip.com and $10.6m share in Bed Bath & Beyond.

Further stakes closed in the portfolio included US fast food company Jack in the Box, valued at $10.5m or 12.21 percent of Scion's total portfolio, figures from the US Securities Exchange Commission revealed.

Boeing shares at Scion totalled $8.95m USD, or 10.39 percent of total portfolio value, figures show.

Scion Asset Management is valued at $315.2m USD in second quarter reports and made headlines after its previous iteration, hedge fund Scion Capital, profited from the subprime mortgage crisis in 2009 in the United States, the report added.

The events inspired the film "The Big Short" which highlighted the use of derivatives in the crisis and starred Christian Bale, Brad Pitt, Steve Carroll, Ryan Gosling, Margot Robbie and others.

Boeing Profits Plummet $2.4bn in Two Months as Troubled Firm Reveals Q2 Results, Ends 747 Production
The news comes amid severe challenges to the Chicago-based aerospace giant after it announced it would cut its workforce beyond the 10 percent estimates set in April, chief executive David Calhoun reportedly said in a memo in August.

The troubled firm laid off roughly 6,700 staff in May and scaled back production on its 737 MAX, 777X and 787 Dreamliner aircraft, cited the COVID-19 pandemic and fight to recertify its flagship aircraft with the Federal Aviation Administration.

Flaws in the design of the 737 MAX led to two plane crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia, killing 346 people, with the aircraft's Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS) suspected of causing the tragedies. The FAA later launched  investigations in the crashes and several whistleblowers in the company leaked further information on the company's culture.

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