Company wind-down: recover value from your data

When a company winds down, its code, chat, email, tickets and documents are often among its last assets. AI developers license records like these because they show how real work gets done Forbes, 16 Apr 2026 (opens in a new tab), and a closing company can license them once, before the accounts close.

Reported deals show the spread. Closing startups' code and workplace data went for $10,000 to $100,000 per company (Medium confidence) Gizmodo, 17 Apr 2026 (opens in a new tab), and a bankrupt airline's archive drew a winning auction bid of $10M that still needs court approval TIME, 25 Aug 2026 (opens in a new tab).

This guide is for founders, boards, liquidators, trustees and assignees handling a wind-down. It covers what to save, who can sign, what can be licensed and what it may be worth. If the company is still operating, see data licensing for AI instead.

Deleted history cannot be recovered. Once a workspace is canceled or a retention policy runs, the records are gone, and with them most of the value.

• Keep admin access and the paid plan until every export has been checked. The export guides show how, tool by tool.
• Do not delete leavers' accounts first. Their mail and chat are part of the archive; a legal hold keeps them where your tools support it.
• Export native formats, with timestamps, IDs and links, not PDFs or screenshots.
• Keep the paperwork: IP assignments, client contracts, staff notices and earlier licenses, so someone can still prove ownership later. See what to keep after the export.
• Store the exports safely, encrypted and access-logged, until the license is signed and delivered.

A license needs a signatory who controls the data. While the company still operates, that is management, often with board approval. Once a formal process starts, the authority usually moves.

• Liquidation or bankruptcy. The liquidator or trustee controls the estate's assets, so they sign, and a court may need to approve the deal. In one bankruptcy sale of a company archive, the court's privacy ombudsman reviewed the transfer and recommended approval Bloomberg Law, 5 Oct 2026 (opens in a new tab).
• Assignment for the benefit of creditors. In this US alternative to bankruptcy, the assignee holds the assets and can license the data to pay creditors.
• Dissolution. In the UK, property a dissolved company still owns passes to the Crown as bona vacantia legislation.gov.uk, 2006 (opens in a new tab), so license or transfer the data before the company is struck off.

This is general information, not legal advice. Insolvency rules differ by country, so confirm who can sign with the insolvency practitioner or your counsel before anything is agreed.

The records that carry value show work being done: code with its git history, chat, email, tickets, documents, meeting recordings and SOPs from the same years and teams. Archives that connect several tools across the same years sit higher in the range than a single tool.

Some records stay out by default, and owners usually leave out more:

• Credentials and secrets, removed before anything leaves.
• Personal data, removed or de-identified before anything reaches an AI developer.
• HR, payroll and performance channels and files.
• Legal privilege and board materials.
• Direct messages, if you prefer to leave them out.
• Customer data that contracts or NDAs forbid sharing.

A closed company's archive is usually licensed once, on a shut-down or wind-down route, so it prices below an operating company of the same size. The example below is the shut-down startup preset of the appraisal, run through the same engine.

Indicative estimate, not an offer. Final offers depend on the systems you connect, data size and quality, access terms and due diligence. Outside lump-sum programs (under about 30 full-time staff). This range is for shut-down and wind-down sale routes. Teams under about 30 full-time staff are priced against the startup row in the Price Index, so the range tops out there.

What raises the range:

• Export every workspace before accounts close. Deleted history cannot be licensed. Keep admin access until the export is done.
• Tell us your peak headcount. Records from when the team was larger cover more people and are usually worth more.
• Add more of your core tools. Email, chat, documents, tickets and code from the same years sit mid-range; eight or more tool types reach the top.
• Include meeting recordings and transcripts. They show how decisions are discussed and made, and programs often ask for them.
• Include SOPs, playbooks and knowledge bases. Documented procedures show how repeatable work is meant to be done.
• License your code on its own. Code with full git history can be licensed on its own, whatever the team size. Value depends on size, history and quality; see the code range.
• Check staff notice and policies; we can prepare the notice.
• Leave out direct messages and HR channels; public channels carry most of the value.

Compare it with the Price Index: shut-down startups have licensed for $10,000 to $100,000 (Medium confidence) Gizmodo, 17 Apr 2026 (opens in a new tab). For your own figure, answer a few questions in the appraisal for a shut-down company; it takes about a minute and needs no files.

The steps are the same as for an operating company's archive. A wind-down mostly changes who signs and how fast the export has to happen.