Google to acquire Spirit Airlines' business data for USD 10 million

Dhaka: Google is set to acquire internal business data from bankrupt Spirit Airlines for USD 10 million, with plans to use it for product development and training its artificial intelligence models.

The dataset includes the now-defunct carrier's employee emails, Microsoft Teams messages, spreadsheets, and calendars, along with marketing, productivity, and operations records.

According to the terms of the deal, the data will be de-identified before the sale is finalized, meaning it will not include any customer information or other personally identifiable details.

Google's offer outbid a competing USD 7.5 million proposal for the same dataset from Mercor, an artificial intelligence data company. A U.S. bankruptcy judge is scheduled to review and consider approving the transaction at a hearing on August 19.

Spirit Airlines has been offloading its assets during bankruptcy proceedings after ceasing business operations in May, a move driven by mounting debt and elevated fuel costs that made continued operations unsustainable.

Industry analysts said the sale reflects a broader trend of technology companies seeking specialized internal datasets, including workplace communications and operational records, to refine AI training pipelines beyond publicly available web data.

Once approved, the transaction will mark one of the most notable instances of a major tech firm purchasing proprietary corporate data from a bankrupt company, rather than through a conventional licensing or partnership arrangement.