The Internet Bubble

The numbers are astonishing. The Internet boom has created new household names such as Yahoo!, Amazon, and America Online -- companies that command billions in market value. Internet startups like Healtheon and eBay have seen their stocks skyrocket over 3,000 percent since their IPOs, and dozens of other Internet stocks have doubled, tripled, and even quadrupled on their first day of trading. 

Here is a market where:

• Entrepreneurs like the 30-something founders of Yahoo! and Amazon become global billionaires overnight; 
• Money-losing startups command market valuations that make the captains of traditional industry cry their hearts out and tremble with competitive fear; 
• Venture capitalists and investment bankers cash in big on companies barely out of the cradle.

But individual retail investors -- the outsiders in this turn-of-the-century roulette game -- are left to foot the bill, paying exorbitant prices for stocks that will end up diving off a cliff.