The three-letter acronym is TMT, short for technology, media, and telecommunications. The term describes the broad sector grouping associated with the dot-com era, not merely Internet start-ups.
During the late 1990s, investors poured money into companies connected to the expanding World Wide Web, digital media, software, telecommunications networks, and related equipment. Established firms in those industries benefited alongside newer companies whose names often ended in “.com.” For that reason, the bubble is sometimes described retrospectively as the TMT bubble.
TMT is easy to confuse with IPO, ETF, or ICT. An IPO is an initial public offering, the process by which a company first sells shares to the public. An ETF is an exchange-traded fund, while ICT means information and communication technology. TMT instead identifies an industry grouping used especially in finance and investment banking.