No, there's a real flow of money: a stock entitles you to (a) the future dividends, if any (b) potential income from stock buybacks, which are basically dividends with a different tax treatment, and (c) a vote on the company to control the first two.

(Some companies have non-voting stock, and some don't pay dividends, but in all cases everyone is holding out for the eventual promise of capital returned from the business's actual profits.)