Metrics & Performance
Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT)
A profitability metric that shows operating earnings before accounting for financing costs and taxes.
Earnings Before Interest and Taxes
EBIT = Revenue - COGS - Operating Expenses
Where
- Revenue
- = Total revenue
- COGS
- = Cost of Goods Sold
- Operating Expenses
- = SG&A, R&D, and other operating costs
EBIT measures a company's profitability from core operations, excluding interest expenses and tax obligations. It's used to compare operational performance across companies with different capital structures and tax situations.
In Practice
The SaaS company had $10M in revenue, $7M in operating expenses, yielding $3M EBIT — demonstrating operational profitability even though net income was lower due to interest on venture debt.
Why It Matters
EBIT helps investors evaluate operational efficiency independent of financing decisions. For late-stage startups approaching profitability, it's a key metric alongside EBITDA.
VC Beast Take
EBIT strips away the noise of capital structure to show what the actual business earns. For startups, it's the metric that matters when you're no longer playing the growth-at-all-costs game.
Related Concepts
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