Internet Fund Herd Shrinks From 44 to 10 Since 1999

The selection of Internet-driven mutual funds has subsided in recent years, as investors increasingly thumbed their noses at investments rooted firmly in the technology sector, Dallas Morning News reports.

Since the dot-com bubble began to show signs of weakening in 1999, the number of Internet funds shrank from 44 to 10, according to Lipper. Investors now wondering where all the Internet funds have gone need look no further than regulatory filings depicting numerous funds shuttered due to insufficient assets or being merged out of existence. Experts have recast some Internet companies as media businesses.

Only a handful of the flagship Internet companies, including Google and Yahoo!, have since gone on to post stellar profits, and experts say the remaining field of Internet companies is now too narrow to support an independent sector.

Technology fund survivors, like the MunderNetNet fund, which shrank from $10 billion in early 2000 to a svelt $1 billion, may never recover peak asset levels.

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Money Management Executive
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