Actually - co-ops work wonderfully. Largest grocery chain in Finland (S-chain). Everywhere Scandinavia (COOP). UK. Rural America. Israel. Decades of success.
And many if not most software startups deal out shares. Great way to bind the blue collar workers.
It’s the venture capital and just sometimes the grabby founders that cash out…
Here’s the 100 largest coops in the US: https://impact.ncb.coop/hubfs/Co-op 100 2023 Report - ADA.pdf
Combined more than 300 billion USD revenue. Not peanuts.
Here’s a few networked coops with each more than 2 million members, from the nordics:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coop_amba
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kooperativa_Förbundet
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coop_Norge
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/S_Group
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/OP_Financial_Group
Cooperatives do work wonders, unless they are purposefully destroyed with adversive regulation.
Also, employee stock options rock.