What happens if word gets out that I'm selling before I've told anyone myself?

There's no automatic legal consequence to you simply because word gets out ahead of schedule, but it's worth quickly figuring out where the leak likely came from, since your options differ depending on the source. If it traces back to a buyer, broker, or advisor bound by a confidentiality agreement, you may have a contractual claim and a basis to demand they stop and account for what happened. If it came from an unrelated rumour, a customer's guess, or someone with no confidentiality obligation to you at all, there's often no one to hold responsible in a legal sense, even though the practical impact on your business is the same.

Either way, the more useful immediate step is usually managing the fallout rather than assigning blame first: deciding quickly how and when to address it with employees, customers, or suppliers, rather than letting the rumour define the narrative. Going forward, this is also a good moment to tighten who has access to sensitive information and revisit confidentiality terms with anyone still involved. A Treadstone business lawyer can help assess whether a specific bound party is responsible once you know more.