EBITDA of $1 (or anything) doesn't tell me anything unless I understand what the prior period EBITDA were. - Were they also $1 in the prior period on EBITDA? T

EBITDA of $1 (or anything) doesn't tell me anything unless I understand what the prior period EBITDA were. - Were they also $1 in the prior period on EBITDA? That would indicate that their growth is stalled and they can't fix profitability problems. An IPO could help address that with the right allocation of raised funds, maybe. - Did they lose $1 billion on EBITDA in the prior period? That would indicate that they've rapidly solved their profitability issues, but an IPO might indicate that they're overvalued and want to dump that problem on the market so that they can correct down to a good market cap vis a vis their earnings. - Did they make $1 billion on EBITDA in the prior period? An IPO would indicate investors scrambling for the exits. And so on. Even if earnings are paltry compared to their scale, if they are massively improved over the prior period, that is a potentially good indicator of performance to come.