EBITDA (agency context) (definition)
Earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization; the cash-flow proxy agency buyers price, after normalizing owner compensation.
EBITDA is earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization. In agency M&A it is the standard cash-flow proxy buyers apply multiples to, because it approximates the cash the operation generates regardless of how it is financed or what it has written off.
Agency EBITDA is always a normalized number. Owner compensation above or below market, personal expenses run through the business, one-time items, and family payroll are adjusted (added back or deducted) to show the earnings a new owner would actually receive.
The negotiation is rarely about the multiple alone; it is about what counts as EBITDA. Every add-back is a claim the buyer’s diligence will test.