Can a company just shut down whenever they like?

Poll of the Day

Technically yes. There's been reports of companies shutting down so fast their employees had no clue it was even happening.

In reality, not really. There's a bunch of contracts and the like which would have to be settled and resolved, a multitude of financial things that would need to be paid, and so-forth. While a small company could probably lock it's doors and just settle all the stuff after once you move beyond one primary office space there's just a lot of legal stuff.

Like, if Apple decided to shut down tomorrow, even if they locked the home office, there's a bunch of apple stores out there in places like malls and such, places that produce their products, and other things which would need to be dealt with. So they couldn't JUST lock down and be done with it.
No more shall man have wings to bear him to paradise. Henceforth, he shall walk. - Venat