You can do this, but only when the company is issuing new shares, which they do sometimes. Otherwise, when buying shares, someone in the distant past did inves

You can do this, but only when the company is issuing new shares, which they do sometimes. Otherwise, when buying shares, someone in the distant past did invest into the company by buying shares they issued. You are just taking over their share of the company. Which makes you now the one who provides equity to the company.