[RecycledEle]

You are correct.

If we ignore trades between investors, then people buy stock, receive dividends, and one day the company goes out of business. (Nothing lasts forever.) The dividends have to exceed the purchase price (accounting for an acceptable rate of return) to justify the purchase.

Without dividends, stocks are a zero-sum game where someone has to lose a dollar for every dollar someone else gains.

If a stock will never earn dividends, and the company will never buy it back, then it is worthless.