Tesla Short Scott Burg Makes Multi-Billion Bet Against Musk’s Firm
The firm added puts on 4.8 million Tesla shares last quarter
Options buoyed Deer Park’s returns through first half of 2022
Excerpt
Originally published August 19, 2022 at 2:31pm EST
While Elon Musk has plenty of Wall Street detractors, Scott Burg may be the first distressed-bond manager to make a multibillion-dollar options bet that Musk’s Tesla Inc. will be “squashed like a bug.”
Burg, the chief investment officer of Deer Park Road Management Co. who made the prediction in a 2020 tweet, acquired put options on almost 4.8million Tesla shares during the second quarter, according to a regulatory filing this week. The shares covered by the puts had a face value of about $3.2 billion at the end of June, though the amount the firm has at risk would be far lower.
After stepping up criticism of Tesla and Musk on social media this year, Burg abruptly deleted his Twitter account Wednesday following an email inquiry from Bloomberg about the put options. Deer Park didn’t return messages seeking comment, nor did Tesla, which has disbanded its media relations department. […]