Baker & Taylor is in a post-shutdown Chapter 11 focused on liquidation, claims administration, and residual asset recovery, with no plan or disclosure statement filed as of the April operating period. The company entered Chapter 11 on March 16, 2026 after a liquidity crisis tied to pandemic disruption, two 2022 cyberattacks, a 2025 default under its $70 million CIT Northbridge facility, and the collapse of a proposed ReaderLink asset sale; after retiring the secured CIT debt with proceeds from prepetition divestitures, the debtor was left with limited receivables, earn-outs, inventory, large publisher trade debt, customer prepayment liabilities, and two fulfillment-center lease obligations described as a $43 million capitalized unsecured liability in the first-day certificationDkt. 9. The petition listed assets and liabilities each in the $100 million to $500 million range, 1,000 to 5,000 creditors, and an unsecured-creditor distribution expected, while the debtor’s exclusive plan-filing period runs to July 14, 2026 under the voluntary petitionDkt. 1.
The case has proceeded less as an operating restructuring than as an orderly wind-down. First-day relief sought authority to maintain cash management, pay limited prepetition payroll for the remaining 19 employees and nine contractors, retain Omni Agent Solutions as noticing and claims agent, and extend schedules/SOFA timing, all consistent with preserving administrative continuity rather than restarting the distribution business through the first-day certificationDkt. 9. By the April 30 reporting period, the debtor reported zero full-time employees, $0 gross income, $427,385 of ending cash, $4.9 million of total assets, $96.6 million of liabilities consisting entirely of prepetition unsecured debt, and no postpetition payables or taxes in the .
The current path is claims reconciliation and estate monetization against a largely unsecured capital structure, with creditor economics likely to turn on recoveries from receivables, earn-outs, inventory, insurance/litigation issues, lease-related claims, and any remaining avoidance or estate causes of action. The debtor has filed revised bar-date materials setting a July 17, 2026 general claims bar date and a September 14, 2026 governmental bar date, with specific procedures for Section 503(b)(9), rejection-damages, and amended-schedule claims in the revised proposed bar date orderDkt. 114. Near-term activity also includes Amandeep Kochar’s request to access Chubb D&O policy proceeds for defense costs in WARN-related litigation, set for a June 30, 2026 hearing under the D&O insurance proceeds motionDkt. 110.
