AI Startup micro1 Outbids Google for Spirit’s Records with $12.5M Offer
September 4, 2026
The AI training-data company micro1 has made a bold move by offering $12.5 million for the internal records of Spirit Aviation, surpassing Google’s agreed deal of $10 million. This development was revealed in a court filing on Thursday, as reported by Bloomberg News.
Spirit Aviation Holdings ceased operations in May and is currently undergoing liquidation. The records in question include an extensive collection of Microsoft Teams items (500 million), emails (100 million), and customer chat sessions (approximately 16 million).
Google’s agreement with Spirit includes handing over the material to designated parties, with Google covering the cost of deidentification through a chosen firm. micro1’s counter-offer addresses this directly by proposing an ombudsman selected by Spirit’s own advisors and emphasizing that the data will be stored in the United States.
The court filing also excludes certain sensitive materials, such as disciplinary records, investigatory documents, and data related to collective bargaining with Spirit’s unions, which have already raised privacy concerns about the Google sale.
Google maintains that it will not receive any personal information from the dataset but will pay a third party for deidentification. A judge is set to review the purchase on September 9th.
While courts rarely reopen closed auctions, micro1’s offer presents a procedural challenge rather than a pricing one. A notable detail complicating the situation is the number of customer chat sessions mentioned in the offer (around 16 million), which differs from Google’s agreement that excluded these sessions.
In Europe, the interpretation of deidentified data would not hinge on labels but rather on capability to re-identify individuals. However, as this deal falls under American law, EU data regulations do not apply, making it a purely commercial bidding war.