Who Actually Made Money From The Crash In The Big Short (& How Much) (2024)

The Big Short tells the story of the 2007 housing market crash and how a few key characters, who are based on real-life people, significantly profited from the financial crisis. Michael Burry (Christian Bale) was at the center of it all since he was the one who predicted that the housing market would crash and used that information for his own benefit and to help out his investors. Burry founded the hedge fund Scion Capital, allowing others to profit off of the crisis that resulted in millions of lost jobs and homes.

Other figures represented in The Big Short are Steve Carell as Mark Baum, Ryan Gosling as Jared Vennett, John Magaro as Charlie Geller, and Finn Wittrock as Jamie Shipley. All five characters, including Burry, made money from the housing market crash, as depicted in Adam McKay's satirical movie. However, their earnings from the late 2000s financial crisis greatly varied — some made upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars, while others earned tens of millions.

Michael Burry Makes $100 Million In The Big Short

Christian Bales Character Walked Away Much Richer

As depicted in The Big Short, Michael Burry, an investor and hedge fund manager, theorized that the United States housing market would crash in 2007 a couple of years beforehand. He realized that the market was unstable by looking at high-risk subprime loans. So, deciding to take matters into his own hands and bet on his prediction, Burry shorted market-based mortgage-backed securities. According to Vanity Fair, after Burry's theory came to fruition in real life, he made $100 million for himself and $725 million for his investors through Scion Capital.

Shortly following the crash, Burry shut down the hedge fund due to a tainted reputation, audits from the IRS, and to explore other investment opportunities. Despite closing Scion Capital, Burry made personal investments after The Big Short in real life. Only a few years following the housing market crash, he reopened his hedge fund and rebranded it as Scion Asset Management.

In August 2023, Burry predicted that there would be another stock market crash, so the investment firm purchased $866 million in put options against a fund tracking the S&P 500 and $739 million against a fund tracking the Nasdaq 100. So, even after the backlash he faced after the 2000s financial crisis, Burry continues to make money.

The Real Mark Baum Made $1 Billion From The Housing Market Crash

Steve Carell's The Big Short Character Made Considerable More Than Christian Bale's

Steve Carell played Mark Baum in The Big Short. Baum is based on Steve Eisman, but the producers changed his name for the film. Eisman was the hedge fund manager of FrontPoint Partners, a small independent trading firm, and he is notorious for shorting collateralized debt obligations to turn a profit from the collapse of the United States housing bubble in the late 2000s.

As a result, Eisman (or Baum in the 2015 movie) and his team made $1 billion from the market crash (via Telegraph and the film). It's unclear how much money Eisman personally took home himself, but he obviously earned millions of dollars.

The Real Jared Vennett Made $47 Million From Swap Sales

The Deutsche Bank Executive Hit It Big After Learning About Michael Burry's Theory

Jared Vennett, played by Ryan Gosling, was another fake name used in The Big Short. In reality, Vennett was based on Greg Lippmann, a hedge fund manager and Deutsche Bank's executive in charge of global asset-backed securities trading. He learned about Michael Burry's strong theory and decided to sell swaps. He, too, was banking on the housing market crash, and Lippmann ultimately brought home $47 million due to the swap sales, as depicted near the end of The Big Short​​​​​​.

Charlie Geller & Jamie Shipley Make $80 Million In The Big Short

John Magaro And Finn Wittrock's The Big Short Characters Were Co-Heads Of A Private Financial Investment Corporation

The Big Short also told the story of Charlie Geller (John Magaro) and Jamie Shipley (Finn Wittrock). The film changed the two men's last names, with Jamie's real name being Mai and Charlie's being Ledley. Jamie and Charlie co-headed Cornwall Capital (Brownfield Fund in the movie), a private financial investment corporation in New York City. They came to learn about the prediction of the housing market crash in 2007, and just like the other significant figures depicted in the film, Jamie and Charlie took advantage of the knowledge.

Jamie and Charlie shorted the subprime mortgage crisis market before the late 2000s financial crisis. As a result, they made around $80 million from their efforts to profit from the crash, according to the film.

What The Real People From The Big Short Are Up To Now

Some Of The Real People Commented On The Current Market

Given how fascinating the story behind The Big Short is, it is understandable that a lot of people are curious about what became of some of the key players following the events of the movie. As to be expected with the amount of success they all had in shorting the housing market, most of the key players remain in the world of finance, although many of them are not in the positions they were in as depicted in the movie.

After partnering to make millions on the risky deal, Charles Ledley and Jamie Mai went their separate ways with new endeavors. Leadley left Cornwall Capital in 2009 and joined Highfields Capital Management in 2010 and continues to work there. Mai, on the other hand, chose to stay at Cornwall Capital, eventually becoming the CEO. While they do not collaborate at their old hedge fund, Ledley and Mai are both members of the Board of Directors for the think tank The Tobin Project (via Bustle). Greg Lippmann left Deutsche Bank in 2010 and started his own hedge fund, LibreMax Capital.

Steve Eisman left FrontPoint, the firm he was with in the movie, in 2011. He currently works as managing director of the Eisman Group alongside his parents. Despite witnessing the market crash first-hand, Eisman is more confident than others that changes were made in response and that the same thing will not happen again. He shared (via The Globe and Mail):

"If you read the newspapers, sometimes it feels like it could happen again, and from where I sit, that's just not true. The regulators learned the hard way they were wrong, and they've done a lot to correct a lot of the problems. The banking system probably hasn't been this safe in my lifetime."

Michael Burry is less confident that a lesson was learned in the market crash. As stated in the epilogue of The Big Short, Burry was targeted by several audits in the wake of his profits, and although he offered to explain how he saw the crash coming, the government has not taken him up on his offer. In 2010, Burry took those concerns public when he wrote an op-ed piece for The New York Times titled "I Saw the Crisis Coming. Why Didn't the Fed?".

The Big Short

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A fictionalized depiction of the events surrounding the financial crisis of 2007-2008, The Big Short employs narrative techniques such as fourth-wall breaks to succinctly explain financial concepts to its audience, using Michael Lewis's 2010 book as a template. The film features an ensemble cast that includes Christian Bale, Steve Carell, Ryan Gosling, and Brad Pitt.

Director

Adam McKay

Release Date

December 23, 2015

Studio(s)

Paramount Pictures

Writers

Adam McKay , Charles Randolph

Cast

Brad Pitt , Melissa Leo , Ryan Gosling , Marisa Tomei , Steve Carell , Christian Bale

Runtime

130minutes