Case studies
What buyers have paid for data.
Publicly reported transactions between $200,000 and $10 million in which companies were paid for their records, archives, and operating data.
We focus on deals between $200,000 and $10 million, and most of the examples here fall between $200,000 and $2 million. Figures are drawn from public filings, court records, and reporting by established news organizations. Some are estimates from reporting rather than confirmed contract values, and we note where that is the case. Company names are omitted; sources are available on request. None of these companies are clients of Your Data Value, and past transactions do not indicate what any buyer may offer for your records.
- Minimum deal size$200Kfor companies we take on
- Upper end of our range$10Ma large enterprise archive at auction
- One advisory firm’s published range$100K–$2M+for 25 to 2,000+ staff
- Intake to payment30–60 daysper that firm’s published process
Published payout ranges
Published payout ranges by company size
Ranges as published by an advisory firm, wind-down brokers, and court records. They are not our estimates. A buyer’s offer for your records may be higher, lower, or none.
| Headcount | Published range | Typical close | Usually includes | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25–100 | $100K–$500K | $350K | Workspace, email, and support archives from about a decade of operations | One advisory firm’s published table |
| 100–500 | $450K–$1.2M | $800K | Adds CRM history, ticketing, and multi-team project tracking | One advisory firm’s published table |
| 500–2,000 | $1M–$1.8M | $1.4M | Multi-region workspace plus engineering and data warehouse exports | One advisory firm’s published table |
| 2,000+ | $1.8M–$2M+ | $2M+ | Full enterprise archive with long retention and rich metadata | One advisory firm’s published table |
| Large enterprise, at auction | $10M–$12.5M | — | About 100 million emails, 500 million chat records, code, and operating records | Court filings, 2026 |
Highlights: $200K to $2M
The range most of our clients fall in. Ordinary operating companies, licensing everyday records, with headcount, systems, and years covered where published.
Freight and logistics · Ohio
$850KA freight and logistics company’s operations archive
Eight years of shipping operations records from a 340-person carrier: workspace documents, team chat, CRM history, and support tickets, licensed after anonymization. Published by another advisory firm as a client outcome.
Industrial manufacturing · Michigan
$1.1MAn industrial manufacturer’s engineering and project records
Twelve years of file storage, engineering tickets, documentation, and ERP records from a 760-person manufacturer. The firm reports 41 days from scoping call to payment. Published by another advisory firm as a client outcome.
Healthcare administration · Texas
$1.4MA healthcare administration group’s records
Eleven years of administrative records from a 1,180-person group, with patient-identifying information removed before anything left the company’s systems. Published by another advisory firm as a client outcome.
Financial services · New York
$2MA financial services firm’s meeting transcripts and workspace
Twelve years of workspace documents, meeting transcripts, team chat, and data warehouse exports from a 2,400-person firm. The firm describes it as its largest transaction to date. Published by another advisory firm as a client outcome.
Business services · 2026
Six figuresA 13-year-old transcription company’s archive
A transcription and captioning company that closed after 13 years sold its complete chat, email, ticket, and document archive to an AI buyer for “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” according to its former chief executive.
Read the case studyHealthcare data · 2025–2026
Seven figuresA medical imaging provider’s de-identified studies
A specialist provider licensed de-identified imaging studies, paired with radiology reports and clinical notes, to AI developers through a marketplace and reported seven figures of net new revenue in under a year.
Read the case studyBroadcasting · 2025–2026
$1M+ in 6 monthsA national broadcaster’s programme archive
A national broadcaster licensed tens of thousands of hours of drama, entertainment, news, and sports footage through an aggregator and crossed $1 million in licensing income within six months, on a revenue-share basis.
Data marketplace · 2026
$1M+ a year, per partnerPartners on a training data marketplace
A training data marketplace disclosed that several of its data partners each earn more than $1 million a year licensing proprietary datasets through the platform.
Larger deals: $2M to $10M
The upper end of what we work on. Bigger archives, longer histories, and buyers paying annually or upfront plus recurring.
Mid-sized publishers · 2024–2026
$1–5M a yearMid-sized publishers’ archives
Trade reporting puts typical annual licensing arrangements for mid-sized publishers at roughly $1 million to $5 million. One AI developer was reported to offer $1 million to $5 million per corpus for a European publisher’s titles.
Financial newspaper · 2024
$5–10M a yearA financial newspaper’s archive and current journalism
A multi-year agreement with an AI developer covering archives and current reporting, reported in the single-digit millions per year.
Academic publishing · 2024
$10M upfront, plus recurringAn academic publisher’s journals and books
A UK-based academic publisher disclosed more than $10 million upfront for initial access to its journals and books, plus recurring payments through 2027, from a large technology company.
Aviation · 2026
$10MAn airline’s operating records at auction
About 100 million emails, 500 million workplace chats, 30 million lines of code, and revenue, operations, audit, and fraud records, de-identified. A $10 million bid won the auction and a late $12.5 million offer followed, with court approval pending.
Read the case study
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