Selling and licensing email archives
Emails show how a company actually works: coordination, complaints, approvals and decisions in their original wording. AI buyers are looking for exactly that. We anonymise the archive under the GDPR and license it to vetted buyers.
At a glance
- Emails show coordination and decisions in their original wording. These are exactly the records AI buyers are looking for.
- In the Spirit Airlines bankruptcy, Google offered US$10 million for around 100 million emails and 500 million Teams messages.
- What is licensed is an anonymised copy. The originals are kept for the retention periods, business letters for six years under German law (§ 257 HGB).
- Private emails, HR matters and health information are excluded before the handover.
Why do AI companies buy email archives?
Because emails show how companies coordinate and decide. No public text contains that.
AI labs are training agents to take over office tasks, and they need real workflows for that. micro1 expressly looks for records of how teams make decisions,[1] and Labelbox rates cross-system data with timestamps and roles as urgently needed.[2] The most valuable archives are those in which emails can be linked to ERP and accounting via order or customer numbers. A case can then be traced from the enquiry to the payment.
What is an email archive worth?
That depends on volume, period covered and linkage. The range runs from five-figure sums for small companies to millions for large corporations.
In the bankruptcy of the US airline Spirit Airlines, Google offered US$10 million for around 100 million emails and 500 million Microsoft Teams entries, and a competitor put forward US$12.5 million.[3] At the other end are small companies: a start-up around two and a half years old expects about US$15,000 for data from Google Workspace, Notion, Figma and Slack.[4] Prices by company size are covered in the article What is company data worth?
Which email data qualify?
Business mailboxes and team chats from all common systems. An export in a standard format is enough.
| System | Usual export format | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365, Exchange, Outlook | PST | Export via eDiscovery or directly from Outlook |
| Google Workspace, Gmail | MBOX | Export via Google Vault or Takeout |
| Other mail servers | EML or MBOX | For example hosting providers or own servers |
| Microsoft Teams, Slack | JSON export or via eDiscovery | Particularly valuable together with the emails |
What needs to be considered legally?
Emails almost always contain personal data. Only an effectively anonymised copy is therefore realised; the originals are kept for the retention periods.
- Anonymised data are outside the scope of the GDPR (Recital 26).[5] For pseudonymised data, according to the CJEU it depends on whether the recipient can identify individuals with reasonable effort.[6]
- Under German law, business emails are commercial letters and must be kept for six years (§ 257 HGB). What is licensed is a copy; the originals remain available.[7]
- Private emails, HR matters and health information are excluded. The US lawyer Greg Ewing points out that emails and calendars contain private details such as medical appointments.[4]
- In opened German insolvency proceedings, the administrator decides on the realisation (§ 80 InsO).[8] More in the article Data in German insolvency proceedings.
How does the sale work?
In four steps. No emails leave the company until a buyer has been found.
- 1
Initial call and estimate
You answer nine questions on industry, software, data volume and history, or talk to us directly. We do not need access to the data for this and give you a first estimate.
- 2
Data sheet and buyer search
We describe the dataset without names, agree the data sheet with you and approach vetted buyers. Company and proceedings remain confidential.
- 3
Fee and anonymisation
As soon as a buyer has been found, we agree a success-based fee. Under a data processing agreement we anonymise the dataset locally at the seller; the buyer receives a sample under NDA.
- 4
Licence and handover
You approve the buyer, we hand over the anonymised data and then delete the mapping.
Frequently asked questions
Can a company sell its email archive?
Yes, as a licence to an anonymised copy. People, companies and numbers are replaced with pseudonyms, and private content is excluded. The originals stay with the company and are retained as required.
In which format do you need the emails?
Usually PST files from Outlook and Exchange, MBOX from Google Workspace or individual EML files. Team chats from Microsoft Teams or Slack as an export. We only need the data once a buyer has been found.
What happens to employees' private emails?
They are excluded before the handover, as are HR matters and health information. What remains is anonymised and checked by hand in samples before every release.
Will the buyer learn which company the emails come from?
No. Company names, domains, signatures and people are removed, including in subject lines and attachments. The licence agreement prohibits attempts at re-identification.
What is an email archive worth?
That depends on volume, period covered and links to other systems. Small companies usually achieve five-figure sums; for around 100 million emails and 500 million Teams messages of Spirit Airlines, Google offered US$10 million.
Sources
- [1]micro1: “Monetize your company's operational data”, accessed 20 October 2026
- [2]Labelbox: “Prism: Data licensing”, accessed 20 October 2026
- [3]Fortune (Wen Shao): “Google wants Spirit Airlines' data. Micro1 wants to pay more”, 14 September 2026
- [4]MIT Technology Review (Matthew King): “AI labs are buying data from dead startups to train their models”, 13 October 2026
- [5]EUR-Lex: “Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (General Data Protection Regulation)”
- [6]beck-aktuell: “CJEU, judgment of 4 September 2025, C-413/23 P (EDPS v SRB): pseudonymised data passed to third parties (in German)”, 5 September 2025
- [7]Federal Ministry of Justice (Germany): “§ 257 HGB, retention of records”
- [8]Federal Ministry of Justice (Germany): “§ 80 InsO, transfer of the right to manage and dispose”
This overview is no substitute for legal advice in the individual case. German statutes are cited in their original abbreviation.
What is your dataset worth?
Nine questions, no data needed, no upfront costs. You receive a first estimate.
Other data types
- Ticket dataLicense support histories with task, resolution and outcome as training data.
- Source codeLicense your own repositories with commit and review history for coding agents.
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