1. During the dot-com era, mergers among some brokerage houses resulted in the acquiring firmpaying a premium on the order of $100 for each of the acquired firm's customers.

• Is there a business rationale for such a strategy?
• Do you think these circumstances are met in the brokerage business? Explain.

1. During the early days of the Internet, most dot-coms were driven by revenues rather than profits. A large number were even driven by "hits" to their site rather than revenues. This all changed in early 2000, however, when the prices of unprofitable dot-com stocks plummeted on Wall Street. Most analysts have attributed this to a return to rationality, with investors focusing once again on fundamentals like earnings growth.

• Does this mean that, during the 1990s, dot-coms that focused on "hits" rather than revenues or profits had bad business plans? Explain.