Christian publishers are among many publishing houses owed at least $230 million by Borders, which filed for bankruptcy yesterday.

The second-biggest U.S. bookstore chain after Barnes & Noble formally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing total debt of $1.29 billion and supposed assets of $1.275 billion, Bloomberg reported.

Owed $1.9 million, Zondervan was among the top 20 publishers on Borders' creditors' list. The parent company of Zondervan, HarperCollins was owed $25.8 million. The chain owed Hachette Book Group—the parent company of FaithWords—$36.9 million, while Howard Books' parent company, Simon & Schuster, was owed $33.75 million. Additionally, Random House—the parent company of Multnomah Books and WaterBrook Press—was owed $33.5 million.

Baker Publishing Group Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing David Lewis told Christian Retailing that the company and "the rest of the industry have been aware that a Border's bankruptcy was likely."

"We will lose money like most publishers, but the amount will not be disruptive to our ongoing business practices," said Lewis, who declined to disclose specifics. "We hope that Borders will be successful in emerging as a viable retail chain, even with fewer stores than they have at present. We will continue to ship to Borders on a cash basis."

Borders' reorganization was made only possible if the 40-year-old chain immediately closes 200 of its 642 stores, Bloomberg reported. Borders filed for bankruptcy after management changes, job cuts and debt restructuring failed to make up for sagging book sales in the face of competition from Amazon.com and Wal-Mart.

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