Dividends don't exist for a private company and I never said they did. And that's why a private company can exist without growing and a public company can't. If you look up the thread, you'll find that it's all in response to someone else posting "Private ownership can give you the benefit of operating at a stagnate revenue since it still represents a positive income stream for the owners", which is exactly what I said here. The owners of private companies profit when there's money left over after all the expenses are paid. The owners of public companies only profit when there's more money left over this year than last year because that will induce people to be willing to pay more for the shareholder's stake, and that increase in the value of the stake (which should reflect an increase in the value of the company) is the profit for a shareholder. So as a private owner if there's a million dollars left over after every year I make a million dollars but as a shareholder if there's a million dollars left over after every year I make more or less nothing.