What's the real difference between selling my business and just shutting it down?

Selling transfers the business — its assets, and often its contracts, employees, and goodwill — to someone who will keep operating it, in exchange for a purchase price. Shutting down (winding down or dissolving) ends the business instead: contracts are terminated rather than transferred, employees are let go rather than carried over to a new employer, assets are typically sold off individually or liquidated, and remaining debts need to be settled before the corporation itself is dissolved.

The financial difference can be significant, because a sale captures the value of the business as a going concern — its customer relationships, trained staff, and reputation — while winding down generally realizes only the value of individual assets, often at a discount, since there's no buyer paying for the business's ongoing earning power. The legal and employment steps also differ: winding down triggers termination obligations to employees under the Employment Standards Act, whereas a sale can, in the right circumstances, carry employees over to the new owner instead.

Which one fits depends on whether the business has real value as a going concern to someone else. A business lawyer can help you assess that honestly before choosing between the two, since winding down is generally harder to reverse once started.