Dot-com crash
The collapse of internet company shares in 2000 after several years of headlong growth.
How to read the number
Valuations were built on traffic and user growth instead of profit, while spending was funded by new share issues. When the issues stopped, there was nothing left to pay for growth with.
When the metric lies
The industry did not disappear: some survivors became the largest companies in the world, so the conclusion that technology is always a bubble does not follow from the episode.
Also known as: dot-com bubble