Owners and stock grants aren't the only possible model, and your righteous insistence that it's self-evident that economic gains should obviously accrue to "owners" is disingenuous.
There are many cooperatives where employees all share ownership of the enterprise, http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Cooperatives-give-new... and this model arguably makes even more sense for knowledge-economy companies that require little in the way of physical capital, and derive the majority of their value from the talents of skilled employees.
There are many cooperatives where employees all share ownership of the enterprise, http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/Cooperatives-give-new... and this model arguably makes even more sense for knowledge-economy companies that require little in the way of physical capital, and derive the majority of their value from the talents of skilled employees.