A liquidation preference is the amount that must be paid to the preferred stock holders before distributions may be made to common stock holders. The liquidation preference is payable on either a liquidation of the company, asset sale, merger, consolidation or any other reorganization resulting in the change of control of the startup.
It is usually expressed as a percentage of the original purchase price of the preferred, such as “2x.” Thus, if the purchase price of the preferred is $5 per share, a liquidation preference of 2x will be $10 per share. Multiple liquidation preferences, for each investment series is possible.