Two months ago, in our ongoing chronicle of the pain suffered by David Einhorn’s Greenlight Capital, we reported that based on interim monthly numbers, the fund had lost a massive 8% in the month of June, bringing his – and his LPs’ – total loss for the year to 19%. The reason: Einhorn got clobbered on both side of his portfolio, with his 20 biggest long positions falling sharply, while his 20 largest shorts – most of which are the prominent growth and tech names that have been beaten down recently – surged.
Then, a month ago, in his latest Q2 letter to investors, Einhorn not only confirmed the poor performance had continued, but also noted that “over the past three years, our results have been far worse than we could have imagined” and while hoping he will be vindicated in the end, he admitted that “Right now the market is telling us we are wrong, wrong, wrong about nearly everything. And yet, looking forward from today we think this portfolio makes a lot of sense.”
However one month later, it still does not make sense, and according to the latest monthly performance report for his Greenlight Capital, the pain for the beleaguered billionaire investor just keeps growing.
According to Reuters, Einhorn – whose bets on car companies General Motors and Tesla both moved against him in August – and whose short tech basket has been a constant source of L in the P&L, lost another 7.6%, leaving the fund down 25.1% for the year, and deepening his worst slump on record.
Einhorn sent investors his monthly update after the market closed on Friday but gave no specific reason for the fresh losses, people who received it said.
One of Greenlight’s largest positions, General Motors, fell 3.4% on concerns about rising input costs as a result of Trump’s tariffs. Meanwhile, Greenlight also got hit on his Tesla short, which first rose then fell during the month fueled by Musk’s decision to remain a public company after all, closed the month higher, hurting short sellers.