What about issuing more stock after IPO? For many companies money flows in continuously, check the Tesla graph I sent above.

It wouldn't be called "Initial Public Offering" if it was the "Only Public Offering" like you suggest.

I think my terminology might not be the test (non-english native speaker).

When I say initial offering, I mean whenever stock is newly (initially) issued - whether that's in IPO, after an IPO or also in a private offering. Not sure what the correct term would be.

My point was, money essentially only flows into the company at that point. E.g. company issues stock, investor A buys it.

When investor A sells to investor B, money only flows between these two investors. No money flows to the company.

Unless - as you have pointed out - company assumes the role of an investor in its own stock.

But the fact alone that a stock price is rising as such does not generate any new capital to work with for the company. And that is a point many people seem to misunderstand.

When Microsoft is worth 3.76 trillion USD, that doesn't mean that Microsoft has 3.76 trillion USD it can work with. That was the point I was trying to make.

That's true but saying that investors moving money between each other is a "pretty accurate description of how the stock market works" is simply incorrect.

The above is a mere byproduct of the market working. The market "works" by giving companies and entrepreneurs access to capital, the rest is a derivative of that. Otherwise you can as well trade postal stamps rather than stocks.