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by jon_dahl 5148 days ago
You're ultimately right, though future EBITDA (or future dividends) is more interesting than current EBITDA. Otherwise a pre-launch startup with no revenue and interesting technology would be worth $0, and a declining company with $1B of EBITDA would be worth the same as a growing company with $1B.

The question is whether Instagram can eventually contribute enough to Facebook's bottom line to justify the $1B valuation. Its current (lack of) revenues obviously don't get it there, but it's the future that matters.