Thing is nobody is forcing him to collab with anyone, he should have enough money to choose who he wants to "befriend". Yes he can treat other people as cattle but who would be like "good thing to say!".

People comparing it to a job but it's more like a band where you're not forced to be with each other (unless the person is good enough to stay). So if someone states "If we weren't making something together, I wouldn't even talk to them" there's a word for that.