Updated October 2026
Which liquidators and auction firms now sell data and code
Hilco AI training assets now appear as a named service on a liquidator's own site: Hilco Global lists "Proprietary Enterprise Data, Codebases & AI Training Assets" among its advisory lines. In our reading, that makes Hilco an obvious first call for a trustee or lender who wants an established disposition firm to handle a company's archive. Below is how the other well-known names compare.1
Hilco
What Hilco says the line covers
In Hilco's own description, the data and codebase line advises companies, lenders, sponsors and fiduciaries. The situations it lists are M&A, restructuring, bankruptcy, Article 9 matters, carve-outs and other special situations. That covers most of the ways a distressed company's records reach a sale.1
This is Hilco's statement about its own service. We have not seen a reported AI data sale attributed to the line, so treat it as an offering to ask about rather than a track record.1
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Hilco's data and AI training assets line | Hilco Global lists "Proprietary Enterprise Data, Codebases & AI Training Assets", advising companies, lenders, sponsors and fiduciaries in M&A, restructuring, bankruptcy, Article 9, carve-outs and other special situations |
The rest of the field
Tiger, Sherwood, Gordon Brothers and Great American
Tiger says it values "customer lists and routes" and "revenue-generating databases" for buyouts, M&A analyses and restructurings. Our reading: that is valuation of customer and commercial data, not a service for licensing email or chat archives to AI buyers.2
Sherwood Partners lists corporate restructuring, debtor and creditor representation, managed liquidations, and state and federal receiverships. No data offering appears in that list.3
Gordon Brothers and Great American: our check of the pages we could reach on their sites found no data or AI training offering as of 2026-10-14. That may change quickly, so ask them directly.
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Tiger's IP valuations | Tiger values "customer lists and routes" and "revenue-generating databases" for buyouts, M&A analyses and restructurings |
| Sherwood Partners' services | Lists corporate restructuring, debtor and creditor representation, managed liquidations, and state and federal receivers; no data offering is listed |
A liquidation precedent
Zulily: a customer database sold in an ABC
Zulily went into an assignment for the benefit of creditors in December 2023. Douglas Wilson Companies ran it through a special purpose entity, Zulily ABC, liquidating assets over 12 to 18 months. Beyond later paid $4.5M plus related costs for the brand, domains, trademarks, social accounts, website software and a customer database.4,5
That database is consumer data sold with a brand, so it is context here, not a price guide for an internal archive. Wind-down buyers aim at the other side of the house: SimpleClosure says code, Slack, email and docs are in scope and sensitive employee and health records are excluded.6
For fiduciaries
If your liquidator does not handle data
Specialist channels fill the gap. License My Data says it works with trustees, administrators, liquidators, wind-down officers and their counsel. MIT Technology Review reports that 47% of SimpleClosure's deals now include code or data, a sign of how often the archive is part of a wind-down now.7,8
Whoever runs the sale, the records have to survive until a buyer samples them, which means someone has to keep paying for the systems that hold them. aitrainer.work notes that Slack, Google Workspace and GitHub organizations are deleted after non-payment.9
FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
Hilco Global lists an advisory line for proprietary enterprise data, codebases and AI training assets. That is Hilco's own description; we have not seen a reported sale under it.1
Tiger says it values customer lists and routes and revenue-generating databases for buyouts, M&A analyses and restructurings.2
Its service list covers restructuring, debtor and creditor representation, managed liquidations and receiverships, with no data offering listed.3
Douglas Wilson Companies, through a special purpose entity called Zulily ABC, after Zulily entered an ABC in December 2023.4
It was not priced alone. Beyond paid $4.5M plus related costs for a bundle of brand and IP assets that included the customer database.5
License My Data says it serves trustees, administrators, liquidators, wind-down officers and their counsel.7
We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company: their team reviews this with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Legal questions go to the licensing company
We do not answer legal questions. Ask the licensing company before you sign: their team reviews these with you.
Questions for this kind of business
- Can the liquidator's existing engagement cover licensing the archive, or is a separate retention needed?
- If a lender forecloses under Article 9, does the archive pass with the collateral?
- Who owns this data: the company, an estate, or someone else?
Questions for any buyer
- Is the license exclusive, and for how long?
- Can you sublicense the data, and to whom?
- Which AI labs will receive it, and will you tell us?
- How long do you keep it, and how is it deleted?
- What is your liability cap, and who indemnifies whom?
- Will the contract ban re-identification of people in the data?
- Who removes personal data, by what method, and do we approve it first?