--- title: What data is worth, and who buys it | Xferdata Blog description: Most companies are sitting on years of accounting and CRM history and have never put a number on it. We write about what makes business data worth paying for, who the buyers actually are, and what has to be true before any of it is sellable. image: https://www.xferdata.com/hubfs/xferdata-social-card.png --- [XFERDATA](https://www.xferdata.com/) [For owners](https://www.xferdata.com/owners) [For buyers](https://www.xferdata.com/buyers) [Blog](https://www.xferdata.com/blog) [Contact](https://www.xferdata.com/contact) [Get a valuation](https://app.prod.xferdata.com/auth/login?src=nav-valuation) # Xferdata Blog We value company data and run the auctions that sell it. This is what we see. [![A settlement that turned on how the books were obtained, not what was done with them](https://www.xferdata.com/hubfs/xferdata-blog-p8-provenance-priced.png)](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/the-courts-priced-provenance) ## [The courts priced provenance](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/the-courts-priced-provenance) Xferdata · Oct 21, 2026, 9:00:00 AM A $1.5bn settlement turned on how training data was obtained, not what was done with it. That is why a buyer interrogates your right to collect and right to share. [Read more](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/the-courts-priced-provenance) [![Crawlers have never reached the data inside your operational systems](https://www.xferdata.com/hubfs/xferdata-blog-p7-toll-booth.png)](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/the-web-built-a-toll-booth) ### [The web built a toll booth. Your data is not on that road](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/the-web-built-a-toll-booth) Oct 14, 2026, 9:00:00 AM RSL and pay-per-crawl let publishers charge AI for content a crawler can reach. Operational data was never crawlable, so it needs a buyer and a contract instead. [![From September 12 2026 users can ask for the data your connected product generates](https://www.xferdata.com/hubfs/xferdata-blog-p6-eu-data-act.png)](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/the-eu-just-made-your-product-data-portable) ### [The EU just made your product data portable](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/the-eu-just-made-your-product-data-portable) Oct 7, 2026, 9:00:00 AM From 12 September 2026, connected products sold in the EU must hand users their data free and machine-readable. That is also the first thing a data buyer tests. [![What your data is worth on the balance sheet, until somebody is forced to price it](https://www.xferdata.com/hubfs/xferdata-blog-p5-who-owns-the-data.png)](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/who-owns-the-data-when-a-company-is-wound-up) ### [Who owns the data when a company is wound up](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/who-owns-the-data-when-a-company-is-wound-up) Sep 30, 2026, 9:00:00 AM Insolvency is where company data finally gets priced, because it is the one moment somebody is legally obliged to find out what everything is worth. [![Why data catalogs do not sell data](https://www.xferdata.com/hubfs/xferdata-blog-p4-why-catalogs-do-not-sell.png)](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/why-data-catalogs-do-not-sell-data) ### [Why data catalogs do not sell data](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/why-data-catalogs-do-not-sell-data) Sep 23, 2026, 9:00:00 AM There are marketplaces with thousands of datasets listed and very little changing hands. The problem is structural, not cosmetic. [![Fifty rows is the first thing a data buyer asks for](https://www.xferdata.com/hubfs/xferdata-blog-p3-what-a-buyer-asks-for.png)](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/what-a-data-buyer-asks-for-before-they-will-bid) ### [What a data buyer asks for before they will bid](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/what-a-data-buyer-asks-for-before-they-will-bid) Sep 16, 2026, 9:00:00 AM A buyer wants fifty rows before they will look, and six more things before they will bid. Most of it is work any serious buyer would have asked for anyway. [![Four groups buy company records, and only one is an AI lab](https://www.xferdata.com/hubfs/xferdata-blog-p1-labs-ran-out-of-internet-v2.png)](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/the-ai-labs-ran-out-of-internet) ### [The AI labs ran out of internet](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/the-ai-labs-ran-out-of-internet) Sep 9, 2026, 9:00:00 AM The open web has already been used for training. What the labs are short of now is a record of how work actually gets done, and that only exists inside ordinary companies. [![Two companies holding similar data can be valued ten times apart](https://www.xferdata.com/hubfs/xferdata-blog-p2-six-things-that-decide-worth.png)](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/six-things-that-decide-what-your-data-is-worth) ### [Six things that decide what your data is worth](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/six-things-that-decide-what-your-data-is-worth) Sep 4, 2026, 11:20:08 AM Two companies the same size, holding what looks like the same data, can be valued an order of magnitude apart. Six things explain the gap. You can change two of them. [![$10,000,000 paid at auction for one bankrupt company's internal emails](https://www.xferdata.com/hubfs/xferdata-spirit-google-featured.png)](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/google-paid-10-million-for-a-bankrupt-airline-s-emails) ### [Google paid $10 million for a bankrupt airline's emails](https://www.xferdata.com/blog/google-paid-10-million-for-a-bankrupt-airline-s-emails) Sep 2, 2026, 5:50:25 PM Google outbid an AI startup for a bankrupt airline's internal email archive. What that says about the data your own business has never put a number on. © 2026 Xferdata, Inc. All rights reserved. [For owners](https://www.xferdata.com/owners) [For buyers](https://www.xferdata.com/buyers) [Blog](https://www.xferdata.com/blog) [Contact](https://www.xferdata.com/contact) [Privacy](https://www.xferdata.com/privacy) [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/xferdata) × Loading calendar… ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "Organization", "description" : "Xferdata values enterprise data assets and runs competitive auctions in which institutional buyers license them.", "email" : "info@xferdata.com", "logo" : "https://47529209.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/47529209/xferdata-favicon.png", "name" : "Xferdata", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/xferdata" ], "url" : "https://www.xferdata.com" } ```