It's not ridiculous at all if it's in the same niche doing the same thing.

manigandham · on Dec 10, 2019

Ownership is bounded by legality. As long as someone starts a new company completely from scratch (without using any of the resources from the prior one), then you have no ownership claim to it.

goatherders · on Dec 14, 2019

No, but you can accuse them of fraud if they start essentially the same company without you in it.

owens99 · on Dec 10, 2019

Yes it is.

The business's legal structure is being closed and shut down. OP only has claim over how the assets of that legal structure are distributed.

If his partner goes on to start a new business in the same niche to do the same thing, legally and ethically there's nothing he can do or claim.