TikTok Campaign Draws $132 Million in Pledges to Buy Spirit Airlines

Spirit Airlines’ bankruptcy troubles have become the backdrop for an unconventional takeover campaign launched by TikTok influencer Peterson. What began as a joke about letting ordinary people collectively buy the US budget carrier quickly turned into a test of whether online attention can be converted into financial commitment. The effort has also drawn comparisons with crowdfunding and decentralized autonomous organization, or DAO, models applied to a traditional industry.

Within 72 hours of the campaign’s launch, more than 150,000 people had submitted non-binding pledges totaling over $132 million. The commitments are not cash in hand and do not constitute a formal acquisition offer, leaving substantial uncertainty over whether any transaction could proceed. Still, the three-day response illustrates the speed and scale at which social-media communities can aggregate interest around a high-profile corporate asset.