Facebook’s flotation will inspire another internet gold rush

Facebook's flotation has caused a massive stir amongst investors. But haven't we seen this all before? Matthew Lynn examines whether we are on the threshold of another dotcom boom.

A wonder company connecting the whole world. A billionaire still in his 20s. A massive successful stockmarket flotation that creates a boom in technology stocks. We're talking about Facebook, of course. Well, actually, we're not. The firm is Netscape, the business that created the first widely available and easy-to-use web browser.

No one remembers Netscape anymore, but back in 1995 it was big news. The browser, created by its then 24-year-old founder, was the first piece of software that turned the internet into something we could all use, rather than just a plaything for a few geeks happy tapping in pages of code every time they sent an email.

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Matthew Lynn

Matthew Lynn is a columnist for Bloomberg, and writes weekly commentary syndicated in papers such as the Daily Telegraph, Die Welt, the Sydney Morning Herald, the South China Morning Post and the Miami Herald. He is also an associate editor of Spectator Business, and a regular contributor to The Spectator. Before that, he worked for the business section of the Sunday Times for ten years. 

He has written books on finance and financial topics, including Bust: Greece, The Euro and The Sovereign Debt Crisis and The Long Depression: The Slump of 2008 to 2031. Matthew is also the author of the Death Force series of military thrillers and the founder of Lume Books, an independent publisher.