The dot-com bubble burst, explained: why so many internet companies with no profits went to zero.

Originally reported as: “Nasdaq extends losses as speculative internet-era stocks continue to unwind”

Between 2000 and 2002, the tech-heavy Nasdaq index fell roughly 78 percent from its March 2000 peak, wiping out trillions of dollars in paper wealth built up during the late-1990s dot-com boom. During that boom, investors had poured money into internet companies based on growth potential and website traffic rather than actual profits, on the theory that being first to build a large user base mattered more than making money right away. When that theory ran into reality, companies burning through cash with no clear path to profitability, many of them collapsed entirely, while others, like Amazon, saw their stock price crash by roughly 90 percent before eventually recovering and going on to thrive. The episode remains one of the clearest examples of how enthusiasm for a genuinely important new technology can still produce a massive, and painful, price bubble.