Dot-Com Bubble

The dot-com bubble was the speculative mania around internet companies that peaked in March 2000 and collapsed over the subsequent two years, destroying approximately $5 trillion in market value across US equity markets. The bubble's core dynamic — investment flowing into companies with uncertain revenue models based on the promise of future internet adoption — produced a period in which capital massively exceeded the absorptive capacity of the emerging industry. Many companies failed; many investors lost fortunes; the industry entered what became known as the nuclear winter of 2001–2003 before recovery began. Meeker occupied a prominent position throughout the bubble as Morgan Stanley's lead internet analyst, publishing the Internet Trends reports that became required reading. Her reputation survived the crash because her framework tracked durable trajectories rather than momentary valuations, and the companies whose long-term trajectories she had correctly identified — Amazon, eBay, the infrastructure players — ultimately vindicated the methodology.