Google pays $10 million for Spirit Airlines' internal data in bankruptcy auction

Google has emerged as the winning bidder in the bankruptcy auction of defunct U.S. carrier Spirit Airlines, agreeing to pay $10 million for its internal digital archive. The archive includes about 100 million email messages, 500 million Microsoft Teams chats, roughly 30 million lines of source code and over 175,000 employee records, offering a rare glimpse into the airline’s operational workflow. Google says the data will be used to train and refine artificial‑intelligence agents that require detailed, step‑by‑step documentation of business processes. The company has pledged to anonymise personal information, though analysts note the need for scrutiny. Industry observers view the purchase as part of a broader push by big tech firms to acquire large, structured datasets that can accelerate generative‑AI capabilities, especially in enterprise settings.