It’s official. Borders filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy today, bring to a close the 7 week long death watch. The 40-year-old company plans to close about 30 percent of its stores, or about 200, over the next few weeks. Borders  listed debt worth $1.29 billion and assets of $1.28 billion (as of Christmas 2010) in its Chapter 11 petition filed today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan.

The largest creditor listed in the filing was Penguin Putnam, with a $41 million claim. Hachette came in second with a claim of $36.9 million and Simon & Schuster Inc. is third with a claim of $33.8 million. Random House, the publisher owned by Bertelsmann AG, Europe’s biggest media company, has a claim of $33.5 million.

Now would be a good time to spend any remaining Borders gift card, if you still have them.

via AP