Stock have always been structured that way. There is a pecking order. Common stock is always at the bottom of the pole. Commons get to vote when and have a say in the company affairs when the company is healthy. Preferreds do no have voting rights but preferreds are protected first during any trouble like BK. There is a tradeoff and unfortunately Lehman is in BK. Therefore, IMO in the case of Lehman when the NOLs do come to play, CTs will probably own a huge percentage of the company, then Preferreds with a small chunck and commons wil probably get a very very small share. That is how it works. Those are the rules.
Register for free to join our community of investors and share your ideas. You will also get access to streaming quotes, interactive charts, trades, portfolio, live options flow and more tools.