Google snaps up 600 million internal messages from bankrupt Spirit Airlines for $10 million

Google just bought roughly 600 million internal communications from a dead airline, and it only cost $10 million. That’s about 1.7 cents per message, which is arguably more than most workplace Slack threads are worth. At a bankruptcy auction on August 17, Alphabet’s Google won a bidding war for a massive trove of internal business data from Spirit Airlines, the ultra-low-cost carrier that ceased operations in May 2026 after drowning in debt and soaring fuel costs. The dataset includes approximately 100 million employee emails, around 500 million Microsoft Teams messages, and a grab bag of spreadsheets, marketing materials, and financial records. What Google actually bought Google has stated that all acquired data will be fully de-identified before use, stripping out any personally identifiable information tied to Spirit’s former employees. The company plans to use the assets to enhance AI product development and model training. The auction drew interest from multiple parties. AI data firm Mercor placed the second-highest bid at $7.5 million, a 25% discount to Google’s winning offer. A federal bankruptcy judge is expected to approve the transaction in the coming days, which would fi...