At least from my eyes, recent trends are exact opposite. Stock buyback returns the money to investors (by raising stock price). Huge bonuses to executives. The company itself is managed on a very thin buffer so that
a) When things go south, they can always ask the government for bail-out. Too big to fail & all that.
b) Anything affecting the company, in terms of regulations, can be shown to directly affect the employees and their job.
This may be a cynical take, but this is what I see.
But investors keep their money in honding companies and trusts, sometimes registered in panama. The billions never actually have a physical person as their official owner
a) When things go south, they can always ask the government for bail-out. Too big to fail & all that.
b) Anything affecting the company, in terms of regulations, can be shown to directly affect the employees and their job.
This may be a cynical take, but this is what I see.