Its tempting to think of a corporation as a real thing, because in many respects it is. But it isn't a corporeal thing (despite the root word of the name). It may own corporeal things, and employ corporeal people, but it is not itself a real thing.

Borrowing heavily from Prof [Joseph Heath][1]:

It might be better to think of a corporation as the nexus of 4 separate entities: *investors* who provide capital, *employees* who do the work, *suppliers* who provide raw material, etc, and *customers* who purchase the products or services the corporation buys.

In different organizations the 'owners' are different: in co-ops its the suppliers, mutual insurance companies the customers, in employee-owned companies the employees, but in 90% of cases (including Monsanto) its the investors.

The investors who provided capital by buying shares of stock are the owners, and will be compensated. This frequently happens indirectly: *you* may own Monsanto stock through a mutual fund or other such aggregate which means that your mutual fund will get the money. Whether that winds up being a profit or loss is more complicated.


  [1]: https://www.amazon.com/Economics-Without-Illusions-Debunking-Capitalism/dp/0307590577