Updated October 2026
Spirit Airlines' data sale: what was sold, who bid, where it stands
What is for sale
An airline's email, Teams and document archive
The package is the airline's Microsoft 365 history, not its planes or slots. A union objection in the docket counts about 100M emails across 80,000 accounts, 500M Teams items, tens of millions of OneDrive and SharePoint items, and 175,658 employee records going back to August 1986. MIT Technology Review rounds the employee figure to 176,000.4,5
The offer has already shrunk. After the ombudsman's first report, Google agreed to drop the passenger name and transaction records, refunds, inflight purchases, timecards and WiFi sales, and kept its price at $10.0M. What remains is mostly internal communication and operating files, with names and personal details stripped out before transfer.6,7
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Spirit Airlines bankruptcy case | In re Spirit Aviation Holdings, No. 25-11897 (SHL), Bankr. S.D.N.Y., Judge Sean H. Lane; Chapter 11 filed 2025-08-29 |
| Spirit archive size in the filings | About 100M emails across 80,000 accounts; 17,082,644 OneDrive items; 20,577,677 SharePoint items; 500M Teams items; 175,658 employee records dating from August 1986 |
| Datasets Google dropped | On 2026-09-09 (Dkt. 1594) Google agreed to remove the PNR and transaction, refunds, inflight purchases, timecard and WiFi sales datasets, with the price unchanged at $10.0M |
The bids
Google, Mercor and a late micro1 offer
The auction ran for about two and a half hours on 2026-08-14. Google opened at $5.0M and finished at $10.0M. Mercor bid at several levels, including a $10.0M offer that depended on using its own tools to strip out personal details; the debtors chose Google and named Mercor's $7.5M as the alternate.2,8
On 2026-09-03, after the auction had closed, micro1 filed a notice of intent offering $12.5M cash, 25% above Google. Its filing proposes stripping personal details in-house, a 1% sample for an independent reviewer and U.S. storage. Whether the court treats that as a bid is one of the open questions for the hearing.9,10
| Fact | Value and source |
|---|---|
| Spirit data auction | Virtual auction of about two and a half hours on 2026-08-14, run by Davis Polk and PJT Partners. Google opened at $5.0M and won at $10.0M cash; Mercor is the alternate bidder at $7.5M |
| Mercor's bids at the Spirit auction | Mercor bid $5.2M (Google's form, third-party de-identification) or $7.0M (its own tools), then offered $10.0M conditioned on in-house de-identification. Google's $10.0M was chosen; Mercor's $7.5M stands as the alternate |
| micro1's notice of intent | micro1 filed a notice of intent on 2026-09-03 (Dkt. 1556): $12.5M cash from cash on hand, no financing contingency, $2.5M (25%) above Google's successful bid and $5M above Mercor's alternate bid |
| Spirit Airlines archive bid | Bid $7.5M; Google won with $10M, Mercor is the backup buyer |
Where it stands
Recommended by the ombudsman, opposed by unions and lawmakers
The consumer privacy ombudsman, Lucy L. Thomson, recommended approval on 2026-10-05. Under her recommendation, Tonic.ai strips personal details from the unstructured data and files a certification before each transfer. She said she did not assess the risks to employees or third parties.11,7
Unions and two companies filed six objections or joinders, 121 members of Congress wrote to the two CEOs, and EPIC filed an amicus brief. The hearing has moved several times and now sits on 2026-11-06.12,13,3
What it means for other companies
A price signal, not a price list
Spirit is the first reported bankruptcy auction of an operating company's internal communications to AI buyers. It shows that a large archive can attract several bidders. It does not set a rate for smaller companies: wind-down data deals typically run $10K-$100K, and operating-company buyers mostly publish $100K to $2M as their own claims. If your company is smaller than Spirit, the match quiz shows which buyers take a company your size and introduces you.14,15,16,17
FAQ
Questions, answered with sources
Judge Sean H. Lane of the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, case No. 25-11897 (SHL).18
Tonic.ai, which must file a certification with the court before each transfer, according to the ombudsman's recommendation.7
Every business is different, so this one is best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over it with you before anything is signed.
Before you sign
Questions to talk through with your buyer
Every business is different, so these are best talked through with the buyer you're working with. Their team goes over them with you before anything is signed.
Questions for this kind of business
- If our archive includes employee records, which parts would you exclude, as Google excluded timecards in Spirit?
- Who strips out personal details, and will an independent party certify the work before each transfer?
- Is a consumer privacy ombudsman, court approval, or notice and a hearing needed?
- How do CCPA, GDPR, UK GDPR and state privacy laws apply, and is de-identified data still personal information?
- How are employee data, union contracts and NLRA questions handled?
- Do customer, vendor or platform contracts, NDAs or API terms restrict this?
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?