It depends on the legal structure of the company and thus what's stated in the operating agreement or corporate bylaws.
Taking an LLC as an example, since they're so common, there is a distinction between Members (owners), Managers (officers), and Employees. Managers and employees will be paid a salary for consideration of their time working in the business. They're getting paid for what they do. This compensation looks just like any other job: it's regular, consistent, and based on the performance of the individual. Members are instead paid for what they own. Instead of a salary, this comes in the form of distributions or dividends. The amount/frequency or these payments varies depending on what was agreed to in the operating agreement and is often affected by the financial health of the company.
My LLC is a taxed as a S-corp so I'm legally both a member and an employee (I don't have separate managers). I pay myself a regular salary. It comes twice a month and I pay federal income withholdings, 401k contributions, etc. As an owner of the company, I also take distributions. These normally occur quarterly and, importantly, I use the money to invest rather than support my lifestyle. If, for example, I sold 20% of my company to someone and the company had $100 in distributions for Q1, he'd get $20 and I'd get $80. I'd continue to get my same salary. Now, as I have controlling interest (more than 51% of voting rights), I could give myself a stupidly high raise to avoid paying my partner his share, but that would likely spark a lawsuit. Again, whether I have the right to do this would depend on the operating agreement. IT's possible that giving a member-employee a raise may require unanimous approval from the board. Almost all the rules can be customized with an operating agreement.
If I sold my company for $1000 one day, I'd get $800 and my partner would get $200. Of course this is simplified and it would be significantly less depending on the transaction costs, outstanding company debt, and taxes. If I had a C-Corp, I could have different classes of shares, which would allow even a more complex distribution of proceeds.