We focus on the problem of maximizing profitability in an optical core network by acting on the power states of Optical Line Amplifiers (OLAs) and Line Cards (LCs) operating under varying traffic. Specifically, the profitability metric considered in this work takes into account the electricity costs of OLAs and LCs, the failure management costs derived from the application of power states to the network devices, and the operator revenue. After proving that all terms of the considered profitability function are deeply inter-correlated, we formulate the optimization problem of maximizing the network profitability in an optical core network with multi-period traffic. By solving the proposed formulation on a realistic scenario, we show that it is possible to wisely trade between the considered costs and revenue, and achieve higher network profitability than in the case in which the single terms are considered in isolation, e.g., only electricity consumption or only Failure Management Costs (FMC).