Google won the auction for Spirit Airlines’ leftover business records on August 14 with a $10 million bid. Then an AI training startup, Micro1, came in late with $12.5 million.
That counter-offer, 25% above Google’s price, landed after the deadline. It left the bankruptcy court to decide whether to reopen the sale or stand by the original result, with a key hearing set for September 9, according to Crypto Briefing.
Spirit stopped flying on May 2, 2026. What it left behind is a pile of data from four decades of operations: roughly 100 million de-identified emails, about 500 million Microsoft Teams messages, around 30 million lines of custom software code, and employee files going back to 1986. Passenger profiles, loyalty program data and personally identifiable information are expressly excluded from the sale.
How the bidding went
Mercor, a data and talent company focused on AI, was the backup bidder at $7.5 million. Google went to $10 million and took the auction. Micro1, led by CEO Ali Ansari, then put in its higher offer after the close.
Judge Sean H. Lane presides over the case in the Southern District of New York. Spirit had filed for Chapter 11 protection a second time before ceasing operations altogether, and every extra dollar from the sale goes toward creditor claims. Those creditors are unlikely to recover much from a defunct ultra-low-cost carrier.
The union’s objection
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA has objected, citing privacy and the handling of employee data. Google has said it would de-identify the dataset further before using it to train AI models. The union’s filing suggests that extra step may not satisfy its concerns.
The September 9 hearing was to settle three questions: whether Google keeps its winning bid, whether Micro1’s late offer gets a look, and whether the union’s objections are strong enough to block or change the sale.
