How Can EBITDA Be A Negotiable Number?

Take five investment bankers, add three private equity professionals, throw in a couple of senior lenders and another few junior lenders, give each of them a company’s prior year’s audited financial statements, fifteen minutes with management, and ask each of them to tell you what the company’s EBITDA is. I can almost guarantee you that the number of different answers you’ll get will exceed the number of professionals considering the question.