For M&A advisers

For M&A advisers: your client's archive can draw bids of its own

Your job is finding the best acquirer. The company's records now attract a separate set of bidders. When Spirit Airlines went bankrupt, Google won the archive auction at $10M over Mercor's $7.5M, and micro1 later came in with $12.5M.

Most mid-market deals will never draw that kind of attention. But the buyers are real, they move fast, and an adviser who raises the option brings something competing pitches lack.

AI Data Offers research deskChecked against our methodology Updated October 28, 2026 3 min read 11 sources

In this guide

Who bids for a company's records

There are not many of them, and they are easy to name. micro1 has set aside $1B for company data over a year. The rest license either directly or via brokers acting for the seller. Floors usually sit at 20 to 30 staff, with a few setting none.

Advisers are moving in as well: Hilco now covers enterprise data, source code and AI training material in carve-outs, restructurings and M&A.

Before the deal: a parallel track

Trading companies are usually quoted $100K to $2M, with an offer inside two weeks, well within a normal marketing window. The real work is ordering: license before or after signing, how any exclusivity sits with the acquirer's plans, and what gets disclosed when.

After the deal: buyers read announcements

Just over a week after HubSpot's Warmly deal was announced, Mercor approached Warmly's CEO about its code and task data. License My Data openly targets acquirers sitting on legacy systems. Your clients will get messages like these and will turn to you for advice.

Questions to put to any data buyer

Is this a license of a copy, or a sale of the records outright?
Is it exclusive, and for how long? Can I license the same data elsewhere later?
Which systems and date ranges are in scope, and can I leave folders or whole tools out?
Who removes names and personal details, how, and do I approve a sample before anything leaves?
When does payment arrive, and does the clock start at signing or at your acceptance of the delivery?
Do I pay anything, and does anyone in the chain take a cut?
How long do you keep the copy, and what happens to it if you are acquired?

FAQ

Questions, answered

Do data buyers really compete on price?

Sometimes. Spirit Airlines' archive went to auction, opened at $5M and closed with Google at $10M. Most mid-market deals are negotiated with one or a few buyers.

Should the license close before or after the sale?

It depends on the acquirer's plans for the data and on exclusivity. Agree the sequence with the client and counsel.

Will it surface in diligence?

Yes. Law firms advising on these deals say prior data sales come up, so disclose early.

What could a license pay?

For a business that is still trading, most buyers publish bands of roughly $100K to $2M. Treat those as marketing claims. They are no price for you. Only a written offer from a buyer whose criteria you meet tells you what your data is worth.

How quickly does a deal move?

Expect an offer in anything from several days to a fortnight. Money tends to arrive three to six weeks after you sign, occasionally longer, and a few buyers wait until they have accepted the delivered data.

Find the buyers that fit your company

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Sources

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