[xerophyte12932]

From my understanding, all the capital (money) and other assets (equipment etc) all belong to Apple, where Apple isn't just "a group of people", but is an entity in itself.

To make it clearer, if apple has $150 Billion cash lying around, none of the stockholders can just withdraw some of it, or even their percentage share of it. What they can do is sell their "share", where the share itself can be considered a separate object that is less related to the company's assets, and more concerned with the market's perception of the company. To illustrate the last point, suppose all of Apple's stockholders suddenly decide to sell their shares. The market would be flooded by sell orders and the price of the shares would begin to plummet, even though there has been absolutely no change in the company's assets. The price drops simply because apparently no one wants to own the share. Similarly when a lot of people want to own it, the price rises. (yes, this is an over simplification)

When you buy a share, you aren't buying a percentage of the company's assets, you are buying:

- a stream of future dividends. - A sell-able "share" which you may hope to sell at profit in the future.

[infinite8s]

They could also all get together (a shareholder meeting) and vote in a board of directors who would then agree to disburse that capital to shareholders as dividends. It's not quite as direct as going to an ATM and taking out cash, but there are mechanisms for the shareholders to reclaim some of the 'locked-in' value.