I once worked for a company that was very much like this in spirit. The whole management culture was: hire smart people, tell them the company's priorities, give them a general direction, remove any obstacles that stand in their way, actively encourage cross-team communication and collaboration, and in general leave them the fuck alone so they can work.
Unfortunately it was bought by another company whose management style was entirely the opposite and it became a shell of its former self and all the smart people left before me.
A company can sell for any number of reasons. Executives might have most of their compensation package locked up in performance shares that only pay out when the company exits. Heck, a lot of "executives" are just contractors with health insurance whose key payout is dependent on increasing the value of the company ahead of an exit.
Negotiating compensation packages is step N of M in corporate financial warfare. Board of Directors and executives can choose to compromise the independence of the company, or not, when negotiating compensation packages. They can also choose to align their financial success with the long-term success and financial independence of the company.
Your first paragraph described a hardware inner sanctum of Apple which I and friends thrived in. I only left after years because i wanted to change topics to genomics.
Unfortunately it was bought by another company whose management style was entirely the opposite and it became a shell of its former self and all the smart people left before me.