Mary Meeker Tamps Down All That Bubble Talk

Mary Meeker has some first-hand experience with the downside of tech bubbles, but the Kleiner Perkins partner says the market is nowhere near the frothy heights of the dot-com era.

During her eagerly awaited annual Internet trends report at the Code Conference on Wednesday, Meeker presented a trio of slides that drew sharp distinctions from the tech bubble at the turn of the last century.

The B-word debate has been heating up in Silicon Valley lately, with private-market valuations climbing even as public tech stocks remain in a slump.

Meeker noted, however, that 2013 tech initial public offerings were 73 percent below 1999 levels and that venture financings in the sector last year were 77 percent below the peak level in 2000.

In addition, Meeker said that tech companies currently represent 19 percent of the S&P 500, compared to 35 percent in March 2000.

“So the net of that, on a relative basis, we think there’s still … a lot of opportunity,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

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