A small amount of stock is set aside and he gets the dividend. That is it.
Company does well, he does well, company does poorly... life is tough ain't it.
That might be valid if pump and dump didn’t exist or near term gains at the expense of long term health.
I can fire every employee and increase my EBITDA tenfold in a quarter only to go out of business the next quarter.
That's a very simplistic way of looking at things, and probably not fair.
What about companies that aren't large enough to issue stock? What about companies that are large and issue stocks, but don't pay dividends? What about CEOs who come into a troubled company, and lay the groundwork to turn it profitable?
I'm not saying that all CEOs should receive 100's of millions of dollars in compensation, nor should they raid other company assets to pay their own salary, but a reasonable compensation is due, regardless of what Occupy Wall Streeters believe.