Gold is a consumption good (jewelry) that people choose to treat as an asset (so much so that they forget that it was originally valuable because it was our most easily smithed/mined metal that rulers liked to adorn themselves with).

Gold is a poor investment, and indeed has some Ponzi-like properties.

Shareholders own shares of the company, and the company owns assets. For example, Uber owns some data center equipment. If the company were liquidated, that equipment would be sold and the proceeds distributed to creditors, bond-holders, and share-holders.

We're about to see this process unfold for FTX. How exciting!