FCF beats Adjusted EBITDA

By Rick Colosimo / February 22, 2022 / Comments Off on FCF beats Adjusted EBITDA

This article sparked my post on Adjusted EBITDA. Uber “reported its first adjusted EBITDA profit of $8 million for the quarter.” Its actual loss? $2.4 billion – 300x bigger, and in the wrong direction. And they’re also giving adjusted EBITDA guidance…. In Q2 of 2021 their net income number was much better, $1.1B, but that…

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Adjusted EBITDA is bad for your health

By Rick Colosimo / February 11, 2022 / Comments Off on Adjusted EBITDA is bad for your health

If you’re an investor, adjusted EBITDA is bad for you because the company is trying to say “don’t count these things when you decide what we’re worth.” Usually, those things are actual cash expenses, and because we all know that the discounted sum of all future cash flows IS the value of the company, when…

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Simplify your performance-based incentives

By Rick Colosimo / February 8, 2022 / Comments Off on Simplify your performance-based incentives

Everyone likes the idea of paying for performance. I don’t know any CEO or director who rejects the concept out of hand. But it turns out that performance-based incentives are tougher to create than you expect – at least the first time around. Equity-based incentives under stock option plans have been around for decades, and…

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Focus on Targets

By Rick Colosimo / January 28, 2022 / Comments Off on Focus on Targets

“What do we have to do to hit our targets?“ From the board perspective, this question is the one I always want to hear from the CEO and the entire senior leadership team. If the first response to adversity is “let’s lower the bar,” then you need to readjust the team’s mindset.  Seriously. And quickly.…

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