Really, in the new economy profits don't seem to matter much, anyway. Well, that was then, this is now. In today's e-business climate, profits are very much on everyone's mind. In today's e-business world, profits matter very much. And when you think about it, they always have.
Profits are what's left after costs are subtracted from revenues.
In economic terms, profits prove that products being sold deliver more value than what it costs to produce them. In business terms, profits prove unequivocally that the business is a success. To put this in stark relief, consider what it means when there are no profits. More value is consumed producing the product than what's delivered by the finished product, causing a negative return. The only way to continue to produce products with a negative return is through external injections of excess value.