For $10 million, Google is purchasing internal business data from Spirit Airlines, which filed for bankruptcy, intending to use it to train AI models and enhance its products, the company said. Court filings cited by Axios put the volume of material at approximately 100 million emails and 500 million Microsoft Teams chats. It also includes spreadsheets, calendars, marketing materials, HR information, project management documents, financial databases, audits, and presentations.
Google said the data arriving in its hands will be cleared of all personally identifiable information and customer records, with a third party handling that scrubbing before the handoff occurs. "We acquired part of an enterprise dataset from Spirit Airlines, which can be helpful in improving our products and AI models," a Google spokesperson said in a statement. "We will not receive any personal information from this dataset.
Any data we receive will be rigorously scrubbed of any personally identifiable information by a third party before receipt." Google secured the data through a bankruptcy auction, and a federal judge's sign-off on the transaction is on the docket for Wednesday. Should the judge decline to approve the sale, AI hiring platform Mercor stands as the runner-up, having offered $7.5 million for the dataset, the company said. Spirit ceased operations earlier this year after a government rescue package collapsed.
The airline had been in talks with the Trump administration on a deal worth up to $500 million, but a key group of creditors rejected the proposed terms. Spirit CEO Dave Davis cited rising fuel costs as the decisive factor in the shutdown, which left roughly 17,000 employees and contractors without work. Spirit had filed for bankruptcy a second time in August 2025, following losses of nearly $257 million after emerging from its first bankruptcy in March of that year.
A spike in jet fuel prices tied to the conflict involving the U.S., Israel, and Iran pushed the airline's projected 2026 operating margin toward negative 20%. The wind-down marked the first disappearance of a major U.S. carrier since Midway Airlines folded in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Attorneys have continued handling the disposition of Spirit's remaining assets through the bankruptcy court process.
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