In every case business owners invested their time and money into the venture with no guarantee it would succeed. Part of the cost of this is paying their workers, whether they get a profit or not. Often it takes years for them to see any return on their investments. This is true even for those who inherited their wealth — somewhere back in the company founding someone had to go through that. A worker who has been paid for the work done at the amount he agreed to is entitled to none of the profits unless they are willing to go without a salary, or at least a diminished salary in less profitable years and assume debts for the business if the business goes into debt.