The dot-com bubble was the 1990s market bubble whose collapse sent the Nasdaq into a prolonged decline.
The bubble formed as investors poured money into internet-related companies, many of which had little revenue or no profits. The rapid growth of the World Wide Web encouraged the belief that traditional valuation measures no longer applied to technology businesses.
The Nasdaq Composite reached a closing peak of 5,048.62 on March 10, 2000. After that peak, investors became less willing to fund speculative companies, and the index fell dramatically over the following years.
The crash did not mean the internet lacked economic value. Companies such as Amazon survived and later became major businesses, while many heavily promoted startups disappeared. The common lesson is that a transformative technology can be real even when its market valuations become unsustainable.