It's not quite so simple. The $25 you spend on the share isn't used by Microsoft : It's used to pay to the seller of the share. Until Microsoft needs to issue

It's not quite so simple. The $25 you spend on the share isn't used by Microsoft : It's used to pay to the seller of the share. Until Microsoft needs to issue more shares (or repurchase them), the value of the stock is not meaningful (to the company). Of course, people with stock options care about the value of the stock. In the same way, it's actually bad outcome for a company to have their stock jump up after the IPO : it means that the company missed the opportunity to raise even more money (for the same amount of dilution for existing holders).