The dot-com bubble began bursting around 2000, triggering a major technology-stock crash.
During the late 1990s, investors poured money into internet companies and other technology businesses. Many firms had little revenue, no profits, or business models that depended primarily on attracting future users and investment. Rising share prices encouraged more speculation, especially among companies with “.com” web addresses.
The Nasdaq Composite reached a peak in March 2000. It then fell sharply as investors reassessed technology valuations, interest rates rose, and many online businesses failed to meet expectations. The downturn spread beyond young internet firms to established technology companies and venture-capital markets.
The crash did not mean that the internet lacked economic value. Companies such as Amazon survived and later became dominant, while many competitors disappeared. The common mistake is to treat every technology company as a dot-com failure; the term describes the speculative bubble and its collapse, not a single company or exchange.