Oura IPO: $61 million profit, $924 million loss on paper

The fact

Oura, the Finnish-born smart ring maker, filed on September 3 to list on the Nasdaq. For the nine months ended June 30, 2026, revenue reached $1.21 billion, up 74% year on year, and net income $60.8 million. Yet the next line of the same income statement shows a $924 million loss “attributable to common stockholders”. Both figures are correct.

Why it deserves attention

The gap comes down to a single line: a $985 million “deemed dividend” to holders of preferred stock. Preferred stock is what investors receive in funding rounds (seed, Series A, B, C): it carries rights that rank above common shares. Ahead of the IPO, Oura bought back 27.9 million of those shares from some of its investors for $1.09 billion, retiring 17% of its outstanding preferred stock. Because the price paid exceeded the value carried on the balance sheet, accounting rules treat the excess as a dividend, deducted from the income left for common shareholders.

The stake belongs to the public buyer. The prospectus shows a profitable company, but $1.09 billion in cash has already gone out to funds that entered before the listing. That value, created before the listing, will never reach the IPO investor: they are buying what remains, at a listing valuation Bloomberg put above $16 billion in late August. For a founder or an employee holding common shares, the lesson is the same. Net income says what the company earns; the line “attributable to common stockholders” says what is left for those who hold no preferred stock.