[jy1]

According to the S-1: They are paying out about $400m/yr to preferred shared holders, which will be wiped clean on IPO (preferred shares convert to common), allowing the company to retain these earnings.

Under "Undistributed earnings attributable to preferred stockholders"

[tdullien]

Isn't that unusual for normal venture backed companies? I know preferred shares with high dividends as debt-like instruments for financial companies, but ... are there venture investments that expect dividend payments?

[kamikaz1k]

New to this stuff, but why are they paying anything to these preferred shareholders?

[jy1]

Likely the investors negotiated the terms in return for funding.