17 hours ago
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On Tuesday, what remains of Spirit Airlines is being picked apart in bankruptcy court. Aircraft lenders are repossessing those bright yellow airplanes while the major U.S. carriers jockey for the rest of the assets, like gates. But some fans of Spirit aren’t ready to give up yet.
Hunter Peterson, a 22-year-old voice actor for video games like Hyrule Warriors, posted a TikTok shortly after Spirit announced it was ceasing operations on Saturday, with a pitch for all of America: “We could buy Spirit Airlines.”
There’s 250 million adults in the country. Peterson said if only 20% of them paid $30 to $40 each, that would be enough to save the ultra-budget airline. The video quickly went viral, and by Saturday night, Peterson stood up letsbuyspirit.com, which he said crashed under its own traffic soon after. By Tuesday morning, it claimed $132 million in (nonbinding) pledges from more than 156,000 people, with a target raise of $1.75 billion.
The site has an interesting, quite populist framing. “Private equity is already circling the wreckage,” it reads. “The passengers, the workers, and the communities Spirit served can take it back. Like the Green Bay Packers. Like WinCo Foods. Like us.” The minimum pledge is $45, roughly ...
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