You are sort-of confirming my suspicion that, once again, what one gleans from the press (even the business press) about what business management is like is not sensible.
I did not find you patronizing, nor did I intend the comment about brainwashing to refer to your position. It refers to the opinions of those in a position to influence the public discourse. guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
When a start-up company goes public, it gives the original shareolders a chance to sell their shaes to the public market. the original shareholders don't have to wait for dividends, they can just cash out. With young companies going public, it would be incredibly rare (I can't think of an example) for the company to pay a dividend. Normally they need the money to reinvest into the company to grow, and in fact may need more than they can generate themselves, and thus need to put a secondary offering out to the public to get more money.
anyway, my apologies if we are miscommunicating on these issues.
