Dot-compost

Dot-compost is a play on the word compost or rubbish, that arose out of the collapse of the dot-com boom of the late 1990s.

When a dot-com company went bankrupt its assets were liquidated and the company became a footnote to history. Essentially, it went into the compost pile (to be recycled). In the case of Pets.com, the company's sock-puppet spokesman proved to be the only valuable asset after bankruptcy.

Another common term of the period was dot-gone.

See also: Tech bubble