The wholesaler – or more precisely, the National Publications Distribution System Azymut – announced in early January 2026 about the opening of restructuring proceedings. It assumes, among others: repaying part of the liabilities and thus avoiding bankruptcy of the company. “This is a response to the challenges of the distribution market and the devastating impact of the cyber attack of July 2025 on the company's operations,” the company says in a statement on its website.
The company has declared that it can repay 50 percent of its debts to publishers, but this depends, among other things, on: on the market reaction and the attitude of contractors.
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A hacker attack caused a crisis in a book wholesaler
Azymut blames its problems primarily on a hacker attack that it fell victim to in July 2025. The attack was serious – the company lost, among other things, access to systems, the PWN online store and the Biblionetka website. Only after two months, the distribution of printed books was restored, but the restoration of the e-book sales system took longer. Soon after, information about people being fired (including sales representatives) and non-payment of invoices began to appear – reports “Wyborcza”.
The wholesaler's problems deepened over time. “Despite many months of struggle to restore full business efficiency after the hacker attack, long-term operational paralysis and exhaustion of financial reserves left Azymut in an impossible situation” – OSDW Azymut informed in a statement.
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The restructuring proceedings are intended to prevent the company from going bankrupt. As the management board assures, the program applies only to OSDW Azymut, and the other PWN Group companies operate normally and “continue to implement key publishing, educational, scientific and digital projects in accordance with the adopted development strategy.”
As part of the restructuring, the company assumes repayment of half of its liabilities to creditors. He also points out that the largest of them – Wydawnictwo Naukowe PWN, to which Azymut owes approximately PLN 30 million. “It will be satisfied to a much lower extent than the others,” we read in the statement. The speed and amount of repayments will depend, among others, on: from the current inflow of receivables from contractors.
