# AI data licensing deals tracker: who paid what, 2023 to 2026

> A sourced tracker of public AI data licensing deals, including the rare sales of company records such as emails, chats and Slack archives. Updated October 2026.

Canonical: https://origindatapartners.com/guides/ai-data-licensing-deals
By: Origin Data Partners
Status: Published
Published: 2026-10-19
Updated: 2026-10-21
Sources checked: 2026-10-21

## Quick answer

Most public AI data deals are publishers and platforms: News Corp (more than $250 million over five years), Reddit (about $60 million a year from one buyer) and Shutterstock ($104 million of AI licensing revenue in 2023). Sales of ordinary company records are rarer but now visible: a bankrupt airline's emails and chats drew a $10 million winning bid in August 2026, and shut-down startups have sold Slack and email archives for up to six figures.

## Key points

- Company records, not just published content, now have public prices.
- Most buyers never confirm terms; every figure here is as reported, with its source.
- Free to cite with a link to this page. A CSV of every row is available below.

## Company and operational records

This is the category most trackers leave out, because these sales are usually private. The few that became public show buyers paying for how a business actually works: internal communication, documents and workflows.

| Seller | Buyer | Date | What was sold | Reported value | Status | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Spirit Airlines (bankruptcy estate) | Technology company (winning bidder) | Aug 2026 | About 100 million emails, 500 million Teams chats, documents, spreadsheets and other business data; passenger profiles excluded | $10M winning bid; $7.5M alternate bid | Not yet approved; sale hearing set for Nov 6, 2026 | [Axios](https://www.axios.com/2026/08/17/google-spirit-airlines-bankruptcy); [Chapter 11 Cases](https://chapter11cases.com/blogs/news/spirit-airlines-case-update-the-data-sale-slips-to-november-as-spirit-moves-to-unwind-the-hfs-aircraft-deal) |
| A closed crypto startup | Undisclosed buyer | 2026 | Its code base, plus workspace data from Google, Notion, Figma and Slack | About $25,000 for the code; workspace data likely around $15,000, pending | Code sold; workspace data pending | [MIT Technology Review (Oct 2026)](https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/13/1145755/ai-labs-buying-data-from-dead-startups-to-train-models/) |
| Shut-down startups, through wind-down firms | AI developers and data vendors | 2025 to 2026 | Internal Slack chats and email threads, used to build simulated workplaces for AI agents | Some deals reportedly reached six figures; one wind-down firm reported nearly 100 such transactions in a year | Ongoing | [Forbes, via Newser (Apr 2026)](https://www.newser.com/story/387644/failed-startups-sell-slack-chats-emails-to-train-ai.html) |


## Platforms, images and user content

| Seller | Buyer | Date | What was licensed | Reported value | Status | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reddit | Google | Feb 2024 | Posts and comments | About $60M a year | Signed | [Reuters, via The Decoder](https://the-decoder.com/reddit-signs-60-million-annual-training-data-deal-with-google/) |
| Reddit | Multiple buyers | 2024 | Data licensing contracts disclosed in IPO filing | $203M aggregate contract value over 2 to 3 years | Signed | [Quartz, citing TechCrunch](https://qz.com/ai-training-data-pricing-licensing-deals-market-052126) |
| Shutterstock | Multiple AI companies | 2023 | Images, video and metadata | $104M of AI licensing revenue in 2023 | Signed | [Bloomberg Law (June 2024)](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/shutterstocks-ai-licensing-business-generated-104-million) |
| Photobucket | Several AI companies (talks) | Apr 2024 | About 13 billion images and videos | Asking roughly 5 cents to $1 per photo, more per video | Negotiation, not a signed price | [Reuters, via The Decoder](https://the-decoder.com/tech-giants-are-on-a-billion-dollar-shopping-spree-for-ai-training-data/) |
| Stack Overflow | OpenAI | May 2024 | Developer questions and answers | Undisclosed | Signed | [LLM Pulse deal map](https://llmpulse.ai/blog/ai-content-licensing-deals/) |


## News publishers

| Seller | Buyer | Date | What was licensed | Reported value | Status | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| News Corp | OpenAI | May 2024 | Archive and current reporting | More than $250M over five years | Signed | [WSJ, via WION](https://www.wionews.com/business-economy/openai-secures-major-content-deal-with-news-corp-724479) |
| News Corp | Meta | Mar 2026 | US and UK content for AI answers and training | Up to $50M a year, at least three years | Signed | [WSJ, via RightsTech](https://rightstech.com/2026/03/news-corp-meta-in-ai-content-licensing-deal-worth-up-to-50-million-a-year/) |
| Axel Springer | OpenAI | Dec 2023 | News content | Tens of millions of euros a year | Signed | [Bloomberg, via The Decoder](https://the-decoder.com/axel-springer-and-openai-license-agreement-is-worth-tens-of-millions-of-euros-per-year/) |
| Dotdash Meredith | OpenAI | 2024 | Magazine and web content | About $16M a year | Signed | [Adweek](https://www.adweek.com/media/dotdash-merediths-openai-deal-is-worth-16-million-per-year/) |
| The New York Times | Amazon | May 2025 | News, recipes and sports content | $20M to $25M a year | Signed | [WSJ, via GeekWire](https://www.geekwire.com/2025/report-amazon-to-pay-at-least-20m-a-year-in-ai-content-deal-with-new-york-times/) |
| Financial Times | OpenAI | Apr 2024 | Archive and current reporting | Undisclosed | Signed | [Mobile World Live](https://www.mobileworldlive.com/ai-cloud/openai-inks-content-deal-with-financial-times/) |
| Publishers in Comet Plus | Perplexity | Aug 2025 | Content used in AI answers and browsing | $42.5M initial pool; 80% of Comet Plus revenue to publishers | Program | [Axios](https://www.axios.com/2025/08/26/perplexity-comet-plus-subscription) |


## Books and academic publishing

| Seller | Buyer | Date | What was licensed | Reported value | Status | Source |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Wiley | Undisclosed technology company | 2024 | Academic and professional books | $23M one-time deal; about $44M of AI rights revenue expected for the year | Signed | [The Bookseller](https://www.thebookseller.com/news/wiley-set-to-earn-44m-from-ai-rights-deals) |
| Taylor & Francis (Informa) | Microsoft | May 2024 | Academic content | $10M initial agreement | Signed | [Quartz](https://qz.com/ai-training-data-pricing-licensing-deals-market-052126) |
| HarperCollins | Undisclosed (reported as Microsoft) | Nov 2024 | Nonfiction backlist, author opt-in | $5,000 per title for three years, half to the author | Signed | [Publishers Weekly](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20241125/96533-agents-authors-question-harpercollins-ai-deal.html) |


## What the prices tell a company owner

Three patterns hold across the rows above. Buyers pay for data they cannot scrape. They pay more when rights are clear and documented. And they pay for structure: dated archives with categories beat raw exports.

The company-records rows matter most for an ordinary business. They show that internal communication and operational documents have a market, not only published content. They also show the limits: the Spirit sale has drawn objections over employee privacy and is still awaiting court approval, and the startup sales have raised privacy concerns because the records identify real people.

A mid-size company should not expect headline numbers. The useful question is whether a specific record category is distinctive, licensable and worth preparing. The [company data value guide](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/company-data-value) covers what moves price, and [how to license company data](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/license-company-data) covers the steps.


## How this tracker is maintained

Rows are limited to deals reported by a named outlet or disclosed by a party. Values are shown as reported; where outlets differ, the most conservative figure is used. Talks and pending sales are labeled as such. Settlements of copyright claims are excluded because they are not licenses.

Download every row as a [CSV](https://origindatapartners.com/downloads/ai-data-licensing-deals.csv). Spotted a deal we missed or a figure that changed? Send it through the [contact page](https://origindatapartners.com/contact) with a link to the report.


## Questions and answers

### What is the largest reported AI data licensing deal?

Among deals with a reported value, News Corp and OpenAI is the largest single agreement: more than $250 million over five years, according to the Wall Street Journal.

### Do AI companies buy ordinary company data?

Yes, though most sales are private. Public examples include a $10 million winning bid for a bankrupt airline's emails and chats in 2026, and shut-down startups selling Slack and email archives.

### How much does Reddit get for its data?

About $60 million a year from one buyer, as reported in 2024. Reddit's IPO filing disclosed $203 million in aggregate data licensing contract value.

## Sources

- [Axios: airline emails and chats sold in bankruptcy (Aug 2026)](https://www.axios.com/2026/08/17/google-spirit-airlines-bankruptcy)
- [Chapter 11 Cases: Spirit data sale hearing moved to November (Oct 2026)](https://chapter11cases.com/blogs/news/spirit-airlines-case-update-the-data-sale-slips-to-november-as-spirit-moves-to-unwind-the-hfs-aircraft-deal)
- [MIT Technology Review: AI labs buying data from shut-down startups (Oct 2026)](https://www.technologyreview.com/2026/10/13/1145755/ai-labs-buying-data-from-dead-startups-to-train-models/)
- [Newser, citing Forbes: startups sell Slack chats and emails (Apr 2026)](https://www.newser.com/story/387644/failed-startups-sell-slack-chats-emails-to-train-ai.html)
- [Quartz: the price of AI training data](https://qz.com/ai-training-data-pricing-licensing-deals-market-052126)
- [Bloomberg Law: Shutterstock AI licensing revenue](https://news.bloomberglaw.com/ip-law/shutterstocks-ai-licensing-business-generated-104-million)
- [RightsTech: News Corp and Meta deal (Mar 2026)](https://rightstech.com/2026/03/news-corp-meta-in-ai-content-licensing-deal-worth-up-to-50-million-a-year/)
- [Adweek: Dotdash Meredith and OpenAI](https://www.adweek.com/media/dotdash-merediths-openai-deal-is-worth-16-million-per-year/)
- [GeekWire: Amazon and The New York Times](https://www.geekwire.com/2025/report-amazon-to-pay-at-least-20m-a-year-in-ai-content-deal-with-new-york-times/)
- [Publishers Weekly: HarperCollins AI deal](https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20241125/96533-agents-authors-question-harpercollins-ai-deal.html)
- [LLM Pulse: AI content licensing deals mapped](https://llmpulse.ai/blog/ai-content-licensing-deals/)

## Related reading

- [What AI buyers publish for company data: 8 programs and 24 listings compared (October 2026)](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/ai-company-data-buyer-programs-study)
- [What company data can you sell to AI companies? Compared by type](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/what-company-data-can-you-sell-to-ai)
- [How much do AI companies pay for company data?](https://origindatapartners.com/guides/company-data-value)
- [/blog/data-monetization-examples](https://origindatapartners.com/blog/data-monetization-examples)