Lyoness has filed for bankruptcy in Europe.

As per an October 24th press-release issued by Richard Meixner, Managing Director of Lyoness Italy;

Insolvency proceedings have been commenced in respect of Lyoness International AG and Lyoness Europe AG, both of which are officially headquartered in Buchs, Switzerland.

Stated reasons for the bankruptcy are “the pandemic, energy crisis and inflation”.

Of note is the possibility of something fishy going on. Meixner goes on to advise the companies Lyoness has registered in individual countries “will continue operations as before”.

How individual country companies are solvent when Lyoness as a whole is bankrupt isn’t clear.

Lyoness is a Ponzi scheme run by Austrian national Hubert Freidl (right).

Over the years Lyoness has gone through many iterations, name-changes and associated shell company registrations.

An example of that would be Richard Meixner working for Lyoness Italy. Italian authorities
declared Lyoness a pyramid scheme
and fined it 3.2 million euro in 2019.

Lyoness ignored the ban and was
again fined 3 million euros
in 2021.

Other countries that have recently outlawed Lyoness include
Norway
(2022),
Poland
(2021),
Russia
(2021) and
Lichtenstein
(2021).

The latest Lyoness incarnation is
myWorld
, launched in 2020.

myWorld saw Lyoness shift away from being an
outright Ponzi scheme
in favor of pyramid recruitment. This is reflected in subsequent regulatory fraud warnings.

SimilarWeb tracked ~528,000 visits to myWorld’s website in September 2023. Top sources of traffic were Czech Republic (14%), Italy (12%), Poland (9%), Cabo Verde (7%) and the US.

Outside of Poland, Cabo Verde and Portugal, Lyoness is currently in decline in every other market.

Update 14th November 2023 – 
As Lyoness’ European bankruptcy proceedings continue, it has been revealed the company is
~$110 million in debt
.

Update 5th August 2025 – 
myWorld has been
declared insolvent in Europe
.

Update 14th November 2025 – 
Richard Meixner’s cited October 24th press-release has been deleted.

This article originally contained a link to the full press-release, which is now no longer available.

🤖 Quick Answer

What is Lyoness and why did it file for bankruptcy in Europe?
Lyoness International AG and Lyoness Europe AG, headquartered in Buchs, Switzerland, filed for insolvency in October 2024. The company cited pandemic impacts, energy crisis, and inflation as reasons. Lyoness operated as a shopping rewards and cashback system but has been characterized as a Ponzi scheme by financial authorities.

How can Lyoness subsidiary companies continue operating if the parent company is bankrupt?
Following the bankruptcy filing, Richard Meixner, Managing Director of Lyoness Italy, stated that individual country subsidiaries would maintain operations as before. The mechanism enabling financially struggling subsidiaries to operate independently while parent entities are insolvent remains unclear and has raised concerns about potential irregularities.

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