We're talking $1 billion+ in sales per year corporations, per the article, most of which are public. Obviously you are correct that companies need people but I

We're talking $1 billion+ in sales per year corporations, per the article, most of which are public. Obviously you are correct that companies need people but I don't see "how on earth" it's invalid to suggest most companies getting $1 billion revenue/yr exist as they are because they received some kind of outside funding. Very few companies are 100% bootstrapped.