What Was the "Dot Com Bust"?

Question

I know this question sounds quite ignorant, but please explain this to me!

Thanks!

Answer 1

In the 1990s, a lot of online companies grew with the help of a great deal of venture capital, but their business models were flimsy and they had no cash coming in to pay the bills.  They had high stock prices, but nothing to back it up.  By the end of the decade, most of these companies failed, and that was referred to as the Dot Com Bust (as in http://www.xxxxxx.com).  

Answer 2

in the late 1990s, everyone was so awed by the Internet, that hundreds of companies that had something to do with it (.com companies) were able to go public at high valuations. Many of them did not have really viable business models,but the assumption was that they would "figure it out later". Virtually all of them crashed in value after the peak in March 2000.