> it must keep growing. The reason businesses must keep growing is that investors demand it.
That's true of growth investors, but rarely represents the entire investment community.
Bond investors (whose market is an order of magnitude larger than stocks) want fixed yield - they could care less if the business grows or languishes during that time, as long as the coupon checks keep coming. Real estate investors (whose playing field is also orders of magnitudes larger than public equities market) also usually sign up for a preferred fixed yield, growth being secondary.
Even within the equities markets not everybody is a growth investor, with a lot of people buying for value or dividend yield.
That's true of growth investors, but rarely represents the entire investment community.
Bond investors (whose market is an order of magnitude larger than stocks) want fixed yield - they could care less if the business grows or languishes during that time, as long as the coupon checks keep coming. Real estate investors (whose playing field is also orders of magnitudes larger than public equities market) also usually sign up for a preferred fixed yield, growth being secondary.
Even within the equities markets not everybody is a growth investor, with a lot of people buying for value or dividend yield.