I had no idea how preferred shares actually worked, so I went down a rabbit hole looking it up. That "always get 1x back" thing you mentioned is called a liquidation preference, which means preferred shareholders get their money back first before anyone else sees a dime.
Turns out there are different flavors too. "Non-participating" means preferred gets their original investment back, then common stock splits whatever's left. "Participating" means preferred gets their money back AND also gets to participate in splitting the leftovers with common shareholders. No wonder investors are willing to pay up for these late-stage rounds when they've got that safety net.
Honestly why hasn't there been a flash-like competitor or alternative that has filled the gap of creatives being able to quickly produce content and distribute it easily on the internet? I think the HTML5 folks envisioned <audio/> and <canvas/> being all you need for interactive stuff, but that hasn't really come to fruition. For animated content, is it perhaps YouTube that took over?
"That sub" over on Reddit is already calling this guy a hero, claiming he stepped in on a carjacking. It's a good segue for them to complain about the state of DC crime.
The fact that there's an individual that goes by "Big Balls" that works for the US government (we're paying his salary) that authoritarian sycophants are elevating to hero status...that's what we're up against.
Turns out there are different flavors too. "Non-participating" means preferred gets their original investment back, then common stock splits whatever's left. "Participating" means preferred gets their money back AND also gets to participate in splitting the leftovers with common shareholders. No wonder investors are willing to pay up for these late-stage rounds when they've got that safety net.