Creditor banks have filed a lawsuit in Moscow asking that the oil conglomerate Yukos be declared bankrupt.
Yukos officials say the court agreed to hear the suit.
The action was filed amid reports of a virtual mutiny among the troubled company's executives. Moscow-based manager Anatoly Nazarov is said to have re-hired an official whom London-based chief executive officer Stephen Theede had dismissed after an audit turned up serious concerns over some costly oil trading deals.
Yukos officials in London called an extraordinary board meeting for Monday, but Russia's Interfax news agency says it has been postponed indefinitely.
Thursday, a Moscow court rejected an appeal of the tax evasion and fraud conviction of former Yukos chief Mikhail Khodorkovsky. His lawyer said he will appeal the decision.
Khodorkovsky is serving an eight-year prison sentence in Siberia.
His supporters say the charges against him are a reprisal for his support of opposition politicians, but Kremlin authorities deny this.
Some information for this report was provided by AP and Reuters.