--- title: "Google: what they buy and what they pay" url: https://www.brightinfo.com/buyers/google/ site: https://www.brightinfo.com/ description: "What Google buys, what it pays and its deal terms, from public sources with a link for every fact. Last verified November 3, 2026." last_updated: 2026-11-03 --- # Google: what they buy and what they pay Buyers › AI labs › Google Google is profiled here as an AI lab [1]. Data types cited in this profile include: Email, Slack/Teams, Revenue records, Aircraft operations records, Employee productivity records, Audit and fraud records (reported) [2]. Last verified November 3, 2026 ## Quick facts | Fact | Value | |---|---| | Type | AI lab [1] | | Status | Active [3] | | Website | https://ai.google/ [1] | | HQ | 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, California 94043, USA (Google LLC) [4] | | Founded | 1998 [5] | | Ownership | Subsidiary of Alphabet [6] | | Program | Content partnerships to improve our AI products [1] · https://ai.google/partnerships-to-improve-our-ai-products/ [1] | | Price | $10.0 million (Spirit deidentified data; successful bid at the August 14, 2026 auction) (reported) [7] · $60 million per year (Reddit content, reported 2024) [6] | | Pricing basis | Cash bid (Spirit data sale) (reported) [8] · Paid licensing for delivery and use of content (news publishers) [3] | | Payment timing | Not published | | How to start | By invitation to a select group of Google Play app developers, through outreach on behalf of the Google Partnerships team (confidential code pilot) (reported) [9] | ## What they buy - **Data types:** Email, Slack/Teams, Revenue records, Aircraft operations records, Employee productivity records, Audit and fraud records (reported) [2] · Docs/wiki, Code (reported) [10] · Code (reported) [9] · Publisher content [3] · Closed and offline datasets; Datasets in science, mathematics and learning contexts (prioritized) [1] - **Excluded:** Spirit deal excludes personal data and privileged materials, including 97.5 million passenger profiles and ~50.2 million Free Spirit loyalty records [2] · Google agreed to exclude additional datasets from the Spirit transaction: PNR/transaction data, refunds, inflight/onboard purchases, timecard information and WiFi sales [8] - **Intended use:** AI model training (Spirit data, per Google counsel to the consumer privacy ombudsman) (reported) [8] · Product and service development, from understanding complex logic to developing coding evals and benchmarks (code pilot) (reported) [9] · New AI features, e.g. in-depth article overviews on Google News publisher pages and customizable audio briefings (news licensing) [3] ## Who qualifies - **Minimum headcount:** Not published - **Minimum history:** Not published - **Geography:** Not published - **Company stage:** Company in bankruptcy (Spirit Airlines) [11] ## Price and payment - **Price:** $10.0 million (Spirit deidentified data; successful bid at the August 14, 2026 auction) (reported) [7] · $60 million per year (Reddit content, reported 2024) [6] - **Pricing basis:** Cash bid (Spirit data sale) (reported) [8] · Paid licensing for delivery and use of content (news publishers) [3] - **Payment timing:** Not published - **Seller fees:** Buyer (Google) bears the cost of the deidentification agent (Spirit deal) (reported) [8] - **Platform's cut:** Not published - **Referral bounty:** Not published ## Deal terms - **Deal structure:** Sale of deidentified data under a bill of sale between Spirit Airlines, LLC and Google LLC (Spirit) [8] · Non-exclusive license; developer retains IP rights to their code (code pilot) (reported) [9] - **Exclusivity:** Non-exclusive (code pilot) (reported) [9] - **Term:** Not published - **Field of use:** Under the CCPA deidentification standard adopted for the Spirit sale, the purchaser publicly commits to maintain and use the data without attempting reidentification; the successful bid incorporates this [7] - **Onward transfer:** Onward transfers of the Spirit data are contractually barred unless the recipient makes the same public commitment (not to attempt reidentification) [7] - **Seller keeps ownership:** Yes for the code pilot: developer keeps 100% of IP and may monetize elsewhere (reported) [9] ## Privacy and data handling - **De-identification:** Independent deidentification agent Tonic.ai engaged for the unstructured Spirit data; structured passenger databases removed entirely [7] · Google bears the cost of the deidentification agent, described as "an independent party selected by the Debtors"; certified deidentification is a closing condition under the Sale Agreement [8] · Deidentification under the CCPA standard and, for protected health information, 45 C.F.R. § 164.514, while preserving referential integrity across the data set [8] - **Raw data deletion:** Not published - **Certifications:** Not published - **Personal data handling:** Google says it is not buying personal information; data is excluded or deidentified by an independent third party before Google receives it [12] ## Process - **Steps:** (1) Certified deidentification (a closing condition under the sale agreement) (2) Before the first and every later transfer, the deidentification agent files an affidavit with the Court certifying that court-approved procedures were followed and the data is deidentified (3) Transfer to Google [7] - **Timeline:** Not published - **Sample before offer:** Not published - **How to start:** By invitation to a select group of Google Play app developers, through outreach on behalf of the Google Partnerships team (confidential code pilot) (reported) [9] ## Track record ### Named deals - Spirit Airlines deidentified data: $10 million sale, supported by the Consumer Privacy Ombudsman; sale hearing moved to November 6, 2026 (as of Oct 2026) [7] - Reddit content licensing deal to train Google's AI models (2024, reported) [6] - Associated Press real-time feed for the Gemini app (Jan 2025) [13] - News AI pilot licensing program: more than 400 publications, newest partners incl. Axios, CNN, The Financial Times, Forbes (Oct 2026) [3] ### Coverage - MIT Technology Review on AI labs buying dead-startup data, citing the Spirit purchase [11] - Bloomberg Law on the Spirit auction win [2] - 404 Media on the confidential Play Store code pilot [9] ## Watch for - Spirit data sale hearing, originally noticed for August 19, has been adjourned five times, most recently to November 6, 2026 (as of Oct 2026) [7] - 119 members of Congress (led by Rep. Horsford and Sen. Warren) urged Spirit and Google to protect former employees' data [14] - Six objections and joinders against the Spirit deidentified data sale were filed between August 18 and September 4, 2026 [8] ## Sources 1. Content partnerships to improve our AI products — Google AI, ai.google. Accessed October 30 and November 3, 2026. (company's own site) https://ai.google/partnerships-to-improve-our-ai-products/ 2. Google Aims to Boost AI With Purchase of Spirit Airlines Data (Bloomberg Law), news.bloomberglaw.com. Published August 17, 2026. Accessed October 30 and November 3, 2026. (press) https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/google-aims-to-boost-ai-with-purchase-of-spirit-airlines-data 3. 400 publications are now partnering with us on our News AI pilot program. (Google blog), blog.google. Published October 15, 2026. Accessed October 30 and November 3, 2026. (company's own site) https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/news/news-ai-pilot-update-publishers/ 4. Google Terms of Service, policies.google.com. Accessed November 3, 2026. (company's own site) https://policies.google.com/terms?hl=en-US 5. Our story - About Google, about.google. Accessed October 30, 2026. (company's own site) https://about.google/company-info/our-story/ 6. Reddit Inks $60 Million-a-Year Deal To Train Google AI Ahead of Expected IPO | Report - TheWrap, thewrap.com. Published February 22, 2024. Accessed October 30 and November 3, 2026. (press) https://thewrap.com/reddit-60-million-deal-train-google-ai 7. Spirit Airlines Case Update: The Data Sale Slips to November as Spirit Moves to Unwind the HFS Aircraft Deal (Stretto), chapter11cases.com. Published October 14, 2026. Accessed October 30 and November 3, 2026. (press) https://chapter11cases.com/blogs/news/spirit-airlines-case-update-the-data-sale-slips-to-november-as-spirit-moves-to-unwind-the-hfs-aircraft-deal 8. The Spirit Airlines deidentified data sale: auction results, objections, and the September 30 hearing (Stretto), chapter11cases.com. Published September 13, 2026. Accessed October 30 and November 3, 2026. (press) https://chapter11cases.com/blogs/news/the-spirit-airlines-deidentified-data-sale-auction-results-objections-and-the-september-30-hearing 9. Google Is Quietly Buying Code From Play Store Developers to Train AI (404 Media), 404media.co. Published June 2, 2026. Accessed October 30 and November 3, 2026. (press) https://www.404media.co/google-is-quietly-buying-code-from-play-store-developers-to-train-ai/ 10. Google’s $10 million Spirit data bid draws union objection over employee records | MLQ News, mlq.ai. Published August 20, 2026. Accessed October 30, 2026. (press) https://mlq.ai/news/googles-10-million-spirit-data-bid-draws-union-objection-over-employee-records/ 11. AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models | MIT Technology Review, technologyreview.com. Published October 13, 2026. Accessed October 30 and November 3, 2026. (press) https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/13/1145755/ai-labs-buying-data-from-dead-startups-to-train-models/ 12. Lawmakers Urge Google and Spirit Airlines to Pause Data Sale (PYMNTS), pymnts.com. Published October 8, 2026. Accessed October 30, 2026. (press) https://www.pymnts.com/big-data/2026/lawmakers-urge-google-and-spirit-airlines-to-pause-data-sale/ 13. Working with The Associated Press to provide fresh results for the Gemini app, blog.google. Published January 15, 2025. Accessed October 30, 2026. (company's own site) https://blog.google/products-and-platforms/products/news/associated-press-gemini-app/ 14. Spirit Airlines to Sell Employee Data to Train Google AI, Horsford and Warren Lead Call for Worker Privacy Protections, horsford.house.gov. Published October 8, 2026. Accessed October 30, 2026. (press) https://horsford.house.gov/media/press-releases/spirit-airlines-to-sell-employee-data-to-train-google-ai-horsford-and-warren-lead-call-for-worker-privacy-protections Last verified November 3, 2026 **Disclosure.** Bright Info is a sell-side broker. We may invite Google to bid for a client's data. This profile is compiled from public sources; it is not endorsed by or affiliated with Google. 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