While the term is often associated with the failure of a commercial enterprise, businesses may also close because the owners have sold it at a higher value than what they invested in it.
Entrepreneurs may close a business for personal reasons, such as retirement or moving into full-time employment themselves.
While a closure is typically of a business or a non-profit organization, any entity which is created by human beings can be subject to a closure, from a single church to a whole religion, up to and including an entire country if, for some reason, it ceases to exist.
If there is anything left after the assets are converted to cash, in the case of a for-profit organization, the remainder is distributed to the stockholders; in the case of a non-profit, by law[clarification needed] any remaining assets must be distributed to another non-profit.
Possibly the largest "closure" in history (but more closely analogous to a demerger) was the split of the Soviet Union into its constituent countries.