Maybe it is just the terminology, but I always thought of preferred shares as being closer to debt than standard shares in the company. They pay a fixed rate of return and generally don't change in value like a stock does. They also have no voting rights like a traditional stock.
It makes sense for the standard shares to pay more than the profit on their least profitable product as they are paying out the profits of the company as a whole. But if preferred shares are similar to bonds then it seems odd.
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