Dotcom Bubble

It was the best of times; it was the best of times.

The First Internet Bubble started with the IPO of Netscape, which zoomed from 20 bucks a share to hundreds in a very short span of a few months. It brought along with it the IPOs of Yahoo, eBay, and a ton of other crappy companies, many or most of whom don't exist today.

Companies could be founded, and then funded fully, and trading publicly, all in the course of a year, with valuations become ludicrous. In a previous world where companies stretched to trade at 20 times earnings, this new generation traded at some hundred times revenues.

But alas, things ended badly when the internet bubble burst on March 12th, 2000 after a Barrons Magazine article pointed out that the emperor had no clothes. Stocks cratered, leaving only a few stalwarts alive and ticking. Out of the ashes grew Amazon, Netflix, Google, Facebook, and a host of others coming soon to a brokerage near you.