The stock-market collapse of technology companies from 2000 to 2002 is commonly called the dot-com crash.
During the late 1990s, investors poured money into internet companies, many of which had little revenue or no profits. The rapid spread of the World Wide Web created genuine technological excitement, but share prices often assumed unrealistic future growth. Venture capital and initial public offerings helped fuel the boom.
The Nasdaq Composite reached a peak of 5,048.62 on 10 March 2000. It then fell sharply as investors began demanding stronger business results and the Federal Reserve raised interest rates. Many companies failed, while surviving firms lost most of their market value.
The crash did not mean that the internet was unimportant. Companies such as Amazon and eBay survived the downturn and later expanded greatly. The main lesson was that a transformative technology can be real even when the prices assigned to many related businesses are unsustainable.