Breaking

Micro1 Tables $12.5 Million Bid for Spirit Airlines Data After Google's $10 Million Auction Win

September 4, 2026 at 13:28 EDT

Foundation Models
Policy & Regulation
AI Agents

AI training startup Micro1 has put a $12.5 million offer on Spirit Airlines' internal business records, a late attempt to unseat Google's $10 million winning bid for one of the largest workplace datasets yet offered in a U.S. bankruptcy sale.

September 2026 · Micro1 / Google / Spirit Airlines

A late $12.5 million bid for a grounded airline's files

Micro1 is trying to unseat Google's $10 million auction win for Spirit Airlines' internal records as worker-privacy objections delay court approval.

$12.5M

Micro1 late offer

$10M

Google auction win

$7.5M

Mercor backup bid

Sept. 9

Court hearing date

The bidding ladder

Each block equals $2.5 million. Column height is proportional to the offer.

$7.5M

Mercor

3 blocks

$10M

Google

4 blocks

$12.5M

Micro1

5 blocks

Takeaway: Micro1's late offer is $2.5 million above Google's winning bid and $5 million above Mercor's backup bid.

From auction win to a delayed hearing

1 · AUG 14

Google wins the auction at $10 million

→

2 · UNION

Flight attendants object over worker data

→

3 · LATE BID

Micro1 sends a $12.5 million offer

→

4 · SEPT 9

Judge Sean Lane hears the sale

Why labs want it

Unique operational records — emails, chats, code, and pricing files — are treated as scarce training material that cannot be scraped from the public web.

Why workers object

The union says employee files should not train AI without consent, and that linked datasets can re-identify people even after names are stripped.

What the buyer is supposed to get — and not get

Google says a third party will scrub personally identifiable information, and that customer and credit-card files are outside the deal. The archive still includes workplace communications dating back decades.

INCLUDED

~100 million emails, ~500 million Teams items, ~30 million lines of code

EXCLUDED

97.5 million passenger profiles and 50.2 million loyalty records

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