Google Buys Spirit Airlines' Business Data in $10M Auction

Google has acquired a vast trove of business data and software code from Spirit Airlines as part of its bankruptcy auction. The tech giant won the bid for $10 million, outbidding AI talent recruiting company Mercor.io Corp., which offered $7.5 million. The data includes 100 million emails, 500 million Microsoft Teams chats and collaboration records, plus information related to revenue, aircraft operations, employee productivity, and audits and fraud.

The purchase does not include personal data or privileged materials like passenger profiles or loyalty program data, according to court records. Google stated that the data will be rigorously scrubbed of any personally identifiable information by a third party before receipt. The airline shut down on May 2 due to surging fuel prices and failed financing talks.

The cache includes data related to marketing campaigns, human resources, strategy, and project management. It also includes pricing from 7.2 billion competitor flights, an estimated 7.5 billion passenger transaction records going back to 2008, and pricing curve data. Google's purchase also includes about 30 million lines of code, development metadata, and software models and algorithms.