Google wins $10 million auction for Spirit Airlines data to train AI
This digest was compiled by AI from multiple sources — links to the originals are below.
Google won a bankruptcy auction for Spirit Airlines' internal business data with a $10 million bid. The sale has stalled after a flight attendants' union objected to privacy terms and a rival bidder offered $12.5 million. A court hearing is set for September 9.
Key Facts
- Google's winning bid for the data package was $10 million.
- The data includes roughly 100 million emails, 500 million Teams items, and about 30 million lines of code.
- The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA filed a limited objection to the sale.
- A rival bidder has offered $12.5 million for the data.
- A court hearing on the sale is scheduled for September 9.
The Data Package
The cache contains roughly 100 million emails and 80,000 email accounts. It lists 17,082,644 OneDrive items, 20,577,677 SharePoint items, and 500 million Teams items. The package includes 1,092,000 time card records dating back to December 2012 and 175,658 employee records going back to August 1986. It also contains 3,426,618 payroll records, 148,018 employee tax forms, and 5,014,676 crew pairings. Bloomberg Law reports the data includes about 30 million lines of code plus revenue, aircraft operations, and audit data.
Privacy Objections
The Association of Flight Attendants-CWA filed a limited objection to the sale. The union asked the court to decline the transaction unless flight attendant data receives the same protections as consumer data. The data being handed over excludes 97.5 million passenger profiles and 50.2 million Free Spirit loyalty records. A rival bidder has since offered $12.5 million for the data.
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Google wins $10 million auction for Spirit Airlines data to train AI
