Upper management is payed a lot in stock to assure loyalty to ownership. This is a crucial component to enforcing the shareholder theory of value: a legal prerogative that was being eroded in the mid 20th century as industry became more complex, workers became more empowered, and absentee ownership had a harder time holding onto the reigns.
The modern corperation is internally a very large feudal society ("manors within manors"), shareholders are completely absentee, and the secondary markets do not directly effect the balance sheet.
I should cite the posts in https://jwmason.org/slackwire/tag/corporate-governance/, some of which I were paraphrasing, and others which I haven't read before but are also interesting in a forum ostensibly run for "founders" by "friendly VCs"!
Upper management is payed a lot in stock to assure loyalty to ownership. This is a crucial component to enforcing the shareholder theory of value: a legal prerogative that was being eroded in the mid 20th century as industry became more complex, workers became more empowered, and absentee ownership had a harder time holding onto the reigns.