Precedents

Reported data sales in bankruptcies and wind-downs, 2023 to 2026

Few precedents exist for selling a distressed company's internal records. Spirit Airlines is the only company to have done it in a US bankruptcy court, and approval was still outstanding in mid-October 2026.

There are two kinds of case here: deals where code or the internal record was the thing being sold, and earlier deals over customer data.

AI Data Offers research deskChecked against our methodology Updated October 28, 2026 2 min read 16 sources

In this guide

Internal records and code

Spirit Airlines
Route
Chapter 11, S.D.N.Y., 2026
What sold
Microsoft 365 email, Teams and files
Price and status
Google $10.0M winning bid, Mercor $7.5M backup, micro1 $12.5M late offer. Not yet approved.
Character.AI
Route
Chapter 11, D. Del., 2026
What sold
Non-exclusive license to code and patents
Price and status
Disney stalking horse at $20M. User data excluded from its term sheet.
cielo24
Route
Voluntary wind-down via SimpleClosure, 2026
What sold
13 years of Slack, Jira and email
Price and status
Reported as hundreds of thousands of dollars
SimpleClosure, aggregate
Route
Wind-downs
What sold
Code and data
Price and status
150+ data deals, typically $10K to $100K

Case	Route	What sold	Price and status
Spirit Airlines	Chapter 11, S.D.N.Y., 2026	Microsoft 365 email, Teams and files	Google $10.0M winning bid, Mercor $7.5M backup, micro1 $12.5M late offer. Not yet approved.
Character.AI	Chapter 11, D. Del., 2026	Non-exclusive license to code and patents	Disney stalking horse at $20M. User data excluded from its term sheet.
cielo24	Voluntary wind-down via SimpleClosure, 2026	13 years of Slack, Jira and email	Reported as hundreds of thousands of dollars
SimpleClosure, aggregate	Wind-downs	Code and data	150+ data deals, typically $10K to $100K

Per MIT Technology Review, code or data now features in 47% of SimpleClosure's transactions.

Customer data, for context

These cases sold records about customers, usually with a brand attached. AI data buyers generally say they strip names and personal details, so these are a weaker guide to what your work archive is worth.

23andMe
Year
2025, Chapter 11
Outcome
Winning bid $305M from TTAM Research Institute for nearly everything the company owned; Regeneron offered $256M.
Bed Bath & Beyond
Year
2023, Chapter 11
Outcome
Overstock paid $21.5M for the IP and digital assets, business data included.
Zulily
Year
2024, ABC
Outcome
Beyond bought the brand, domains and customer database for $4.5M plus costs.
RadioShack
Year
2015, Chapter 11
Outcome
General Wireless bought the IP for $26M. The customer file was cut back sharply after a mediation.

Case	Year	Outcome
23andMe	2025, Chapter 11	Winning bid $305M from TTAM Research Institute for nearly everything the company owned; Regeneron offered $256M.
Bed Bath & Beyond	2023, Chapter 11	Overstock paid $21.5M for the IP and digital assets, business data included.
Zulily	2024, ABC	Beyond bought the brand, domains and customer database for $4.5M plus costs.
RadioShack	2015, Chapter 11	General Wireless bought the IP for $26M. The customer file was cut back sharply after a mediation.

More on these in customer data in bankruptcy.

What the cases tell a seller

Court sales of work archives are new and slow. Spirit's took months and drew six objections.
Wind-downs are where volume is. Deals there close faster and for smaller amounts.
Buyers drop sensitive sets to get a deal done. Google gave up passenger and timecard data without cutting its price.
Code and patents can sell separately from user data, as Character.AI's stalking horse shows.

FAQ

Questions, answered

Has any company sold its emails in bankruptcy?

No other reported US bankruptcy has sold an internal email and chat archive to an AI buyer; Spirit Airlines is the first, and court approval was still outstanding in mid-October 2026.

What do wind-down data deals sell for?

SimpleClosure counts 150+ deals, usually worth $10K to $100K apiece. Reports put the value of cielo24's 13 years of records in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Why are 23andMe and RadioShack listed separately?

They sold customer data with a brand. AI buyers want internal work records with personal details removed, which is a different asset.

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Sources

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