I think that the difference is that this is not corporate sponsorship, but a service to corporations. As I see it with this service they pay him for his consul

I think that the difference is that this is not corporate sponsorship, but a service to corporations. As I see it with this service they pay him for his consulting and knowledge on how to use at best Clojure for development/testing/deploy. But they don't have the option to say something regarding the development of the language itself.