Clear
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
Clear was an airport fast-lane program run by Verified Identity Pass, founded by Steven Brill. Members paid for biometric identity verification to use expedited lanes at about 20 US airports. On June 22, 2009 the company abruptly ceased operations after declaring bankruptcy.
02 / Clear FAILURE REASONS
Failure factors supported by the current evidence
Clear's parent company said it could not reach an agreement with its senior creditor, leaving the service unable to continue.
The parent company could not reach an agreement with its senior creditor.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Operations ended
Clear ceased operations on 22 June 2009.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
Biometric fast-lane at about 20 US airports
- 02
About 200,000 members at $199 a year
- 03
TSA stops background checks; creditor talks fail
- 04
June 22, 2009: bankruptcy, abrupt shutdown