Non-operating activities include interest expenses, tax rates, and large non-cash items such as depreciation and amortization. By removing the non-operating effects, EBITDA gives investors the ability to focus on the profitability of their operations.
Thomas Edison once speculated: Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.
A generation of positive thinking gurus that followed were not so careful, however, and gradually 10 percent of our capacity morphed into 10 percent of our brain. Undoubtedly, the biggest boost for the self-help entrepreneurs came when the famous adventurer and journalist Lowell Thomas attributed the 10-percent-of-the-brain claim to William James.