Yes, absolutely. There isn't a single profitable corporation on earth that has employees that don't deserve to be compensated more.
The comments on HN are turning into reddit comments with the massive drop in quality lately. The fact that you're on a throwaway reinforces my point quite a bit.
This wouldn't be called "profit", now would it?
Regardless, letting the market dictate as much as it does also doesn't make sense. Neither does trusting investors/shareholders to determine what's best for society. It's all just kind of broken.
If I can just take any money I "should" be giving to employees and absolve myself of that goal simply by spending the money on the company instead, which every publicly-owned company currently does, then nothing has changed.
You DO realize things like stock buybacks are done to grow the company, right? Like yes, there is a profit motive there for shareholders, but paying off shareholders could also be classified as growing the company.
So again - what are you actually asking for? Please clarify whatever point you're trying to make, because so far, all you've said is "nothing should change".
Let me introduce you to a concept called “dividends”
Frankly, I’d love it if we made private enterprise illegal.
Companies aren't giving away money for fun - I promise you there's a strategy.