{"id":97551,"date":"2001-03-16T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2001-03-16T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/2001\/03\/16\/americans-blame-greed-and-clueless-executives-for-the-dot-com-meltdown\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T04:14:33","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T09:14:33","slug":"americans-blame-greed-and-clueless-executives-for-the-dot-com-meltdown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/internet\/2001\/03\/16\/americans-blame-greed-and-clueless-executives-for-the-dot-com-meltdown\/","title":{"rendered":"Americans Blame Greed and Clueless Executives for the Dot-com Meltdown"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Washington, D.C., March 16) — As the fortunes of Internet companies have fallen in recent months, Americans who have followed these developments believe that the difficulties of dot-coms are attributable to overeager investors looking for quick profits and poor business plans by dot-com entrepreneurs. A smaller number of Americans say that the youth and inexperience of management of Internet companies are major reasons behind the shakeout. <\/p>\n\n

Some numbers from the Pew Internet and American Life Project”s February poll: <\/p>\n\n

  • 67% of Americans who are aware of dot-coms” financial woes subscribe to an “irrational exuberance” theory of what has caused the dot-com downturn, namely that investors in Internet companies took too many risks because they were looking for quick payoffs from the dot-com stock run-up.<\/li>\n\n
  • 56% of Americans who are aware of dot-coms” financial woes say the dot-coms” business plans were a problem; Internet companies lacked a clear plan to profitability, and this contributed to subsequent financial problems.<\/li>\n\n
  • 38% of Americans who are aware of dot-coms” financial woes say the youth and experience of those running Internet companies was a reason behind the dot-com downturn.<\/li>\n\n
  • 26% of Americans who have heard about the dot-com” troubles believe they will have a major impact on the U.S. economy. Some 61% say it will have a minor impact on the overall economy.

    “Americans are saying that greed and haste made waste among dot-com investors,” says John Horrigan, author of the Pew Internet Project report. “The desire to chase a huge windfall overshadowed clear thinking about how Internet companies would actually make money. But even if speculation got the better of a lot of Internet investors, Americans do not see the dot-com shakeout affecting the entire economy very much.” <\/p>\n

    Americans have a high awareness of the reversal of fortune for Internet companies. Fully two-thirds of all Americans have heard of layoffs, closings, or falling stock prices of Internet firms, with one-third (30%) having followed the story closely. Most Americans (57%) think that some dot-coms closing is a good thing, because the Web had too many sites with too little to offer. About one quarter (28%) lament the closure of dot-coms, saying they believe it will result in fewer choices of content on the Web. <\/p>\n

    In terms of impact, 31 million Americans have been directly or indirectly affected by the dot-com downturn. Some 9% know someone who has been the victim of a dot-com layoff, 7% of Americans say their family has lost money in a dot-com investment, and 8% of Internet users have had one of their favorite Web sites vanish during the shakeout. <\/p><\/li>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    (Washington, D.C., March 16) — As the fortunes of Internet companies have fallen in recent months, Americans who have followed these developments believe that the difficulties of dot-coms are attributable to overeager investors looking for quick profits and poor business plans by dot-com entrepreneurs. A smaller number of Americans say that the youth and inexperience 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