Comment by tonyedgecombe

>The return is in the increase in value of the stock?

There will never be an increase in the value of the stock if there is no expected return.

If you go back to the 1600's then shareholders got their return from liquidation payouts. Someone would invest in a voyage and when the ship returned the spoils were the paid out and the company was liquidated. Not so different from a dividend really and it clearly wouldn't work for a modern industrial economy.