[adamcstephens]

Except the quote isn’t about legal ownership it all. It’s about who has skin in the game, and who actually makes the company function.

The vast majority of shareholders have very little skin in the game, while the employees of the company absolutely have a lot of skin in the game. The employees depend on the company for their livelihood, whereas a shareholder is generally just trying to make money on their money.

[mathattack]

I view him as defining value as to accrue to stakeholders, with employees as primary.

One way to frame the question is “If the company gets a million dollar windfall, who should get it?” Employees? Owners? Even the most customer centric company won’t say a cash payment to customers, though they may say improving service or R and D.