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I spent a few months looking into Clear, the airport line-skipping company that wants to be so, so much more.
I got more than 3500 documents and emails, including revenue numbers, growth projections, slide decks to airports, and emails. https://onezero.medium.com/clear-conquered-u-s-airports-now-it-wants-to-own-your-entire-digital-identity-15d61076e44d
I got more than 3500 documents and emails, including revenue numbers, growth projections, slide decks to airports, and emails. https://onezero.medium.com/clear-conquered-u-s-airports-now-it-wants-to-own-your-entire-digital-identity-15d61076e44d
emails and emails, not a great start to my tweet thread
ANYWAY
Clear charges $179 for a subscription to skip lines, and it convinces airports to give them space for its kiosks by sharing this revenue.
Typically, this ranges from 10% to 12%.
At a big airport like LAX, that could be $3 million in kickbacks, like it was in 2019.
Clear charges $179 for a subscription to skip lines, and it convinces airports to give them space for its kiosks by sharing this revenue.
Typically, this ranges from 10% to 12%.
At a big airport like LAX, that could be $3 million in kickbacks, like it was in 2019.
Airports get this kickback from people who sign up there, and also people who live in the surrounding area, according to five contracts I obtained.
And it's not a 1-time deal, they a piece of the annual subscription renewal as well.
And it's not a 1-time deal, they a piece of the annual subscription renewal as well.
At LAX, which I lean on a lot because it's one of the largest airports in the country and turned over a lot of docs, Clear expected to earn $40M and kick back $5M by 2025.
This is an email laying it out from Clear's VP of Airport Affairs.
This is an email laying it out from Clear's VP of Airport Affairs.
Here's Clear's LAX revenue for 2019.
But when I was writing this, something else was going on. Clear was starting to pitch its new product, Health Pass.
In a confidential slide deck called "Helping America Get Moving", Clear laid out its plans for the service.
In a confidential slide deck called "Helping America Get Moving", Clear laid out its plans for the service.
Clear compared the coronavirus to 9/11, the tragedy the company was originally founded after.
Here's where Clear starts to be more than an airport company.
The gamble is that Clear can authenticate your health anywhere, like in office buildings or museums or anywhere else.
Here's where Clear starts to be more than an airport company.
The gamble is that Clear can authenticate your health anywhere, like in office buildings or museums or anywhere else.
Clear's CEO Caryn Seidman-Becker has been talking about this grander ambition publicly, too, before the coronavirus.
She sees Clear as an identity company, not just an airport line-skipping operation.
“We are a platform company… think about it like Amazon," she said.
She sees Clear as an identity company, not just an airport line-skipping operation.
“We are a platform company… think about it like Amazon," she said.
Suddenly, things come into focus.
The "ecosystem" that Clear pitches to airports is a starting point. Airports are an entrenchment into local critical infrastructure, from which Clear can expand.
These slides are from 2015.
The "ecosystem" that Clear pitches to airports is a starting point. Airports are an entrenchment into local critical infrastructure, from which Clear can expand.
These slides are from 2015.
In 2015 the company was even pitching how much marketing data it was collecting (a scary amount tbh), although the company says now it wouldnt sell this data, and only share with partners with customer consent (which is meaningless)
So the pandemic, which you would think would be a death knell for a company that more efficiently ushers people into crowded spaces, has been gasoline on the fire of Clear's wider ambitions. They're in Dos Toros and Chop't now. Health Pass was in use by the whole NHL.
Clear is also working on an unannounced product called Clarity that is a "cloud-based software product which helps security professionals identify, assess and manage trust within their organizations."
There's so so much more in the story, and I hope you'll read it. It's also edited and more cohesive than this train wreck tweet thread. i'll add more documents and info to this thread later today
