What speculative bubble burst in 2000 after rapid investment in internet companies?

The speculative bubble that burst in 2000 after rapid investment in internet companies was the dot-com bubble.

During the late 1990s, investors poured money into businesses connected to the emerging World Wide Web. Many companies received very high valuations despite little revenue, weak profits, or no workable path to profitability. The Nasdaq Composite, heavily weighted toward technology shares, rose dramatically and reached a peak on 10 March 2000.

After that peak, investors became less willing to pay for promises of future growth. Technology share prices fell, many internet startups failed, and venture funding contracted. The decline was a major stock-market crash, although the broader economic effects were less severe than those of the 1929 crash or the 2008 financial crisis.

The term does not mean every internet company was unsound. Firms such as Amazon survived and later grew substantially. The bubble describes excessive market valuations and speculation, not the internet itself or all technology businesses.