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First Data Corporation is a financial services company headquartered in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, United States. The company's STAR Network provided nationwide domestic debit acceptance at more than 2 million retail POS, ATM, and Online outlets for nearly a third of all U.S. debit cards. First Data has six million merchants, the largest in the payments industry. The company handles 45% of all US
credit Credit (from Latin verb ''credit'', meaning "one believes") is the trust which allows one party to provide money or resources to another party wherein the second party does not reimburse the first party immediately (thereby generating a debt) ...
and
debit Debits and credits in double-entry bookkeeping are entries made in account ledgers to record changes in value resulting from business transactions. A debit entry in an account represents a transfer of value ''to'' that account, and a credit en ...
transactions, including handling prepaid
gift card A gift card also known as gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK is a prepaid stored-value money card, usually issued by a retailer or bank, to be used as an alternative to cash for purchases within a parti ...
processing for many US brands such as
Starbucks Starbucks Corporation is an American multinational chain of coffeehouses and roastery reserves headquartered in Seattle, Washington. It is the world's largest coffeehouse chain. As of November 2021, the company had 33,833 stores in 80 c ...
. It processes around 2,800 transactions per second and $2.2 trillion in card transactions annually, with an 80%
market share Market share is the percentage of the total revenue or sales in a market that a company's business makes up. For example, if there are 50,000 units sold per year in a given industry, a company whose sales were 5,000 of those units would have a ...
in gas and groceries in 2014. First Data's SpendTrend Report is a key shopping metric for national news networks such as '' WSJ, USA Today'', ''
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
'', ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'',
Vox Media Vox Media, Inc. is an American mass media company based in Washington, D.C., and New York City. The company was established in November 2011 by Jim Bankoff and Trei Brundrett to encompass ''SB Nation'' (a sports blog network founded in 2005 by ...
, and ''
Bloomberg Bloomberg may refer to: People * Daniel J. Bloomberg (1905–1984), audio engineer * Georgina Bloomberg (born 1983), professional equestrian * Michael Bloomberg (born 1942), American businessman and founder of Bloomberg L.P.; politician and m ...
''. In October 2015, First Data returned to public markets, selling 160 million shares in the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
’s biggest
IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
of that year. On January 16, 2019,
Fiserv Fiserv, Inc. () is an American multinational company headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin that provides financial technology services to clients across the financial services sector, including: banks, thrifts, credit unions, securities broker ...
announced a deal to acquire First Data in all-stock deal with equity value of $22 billion. Fiserv completed the acquisition of First Data on Monday July 29, 2019.https://financefeeds.com/fiserv-completes-acquisition-first-data/


History

In 1969, the Mid-America Bankcard Association (MABA) was formed in
Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
, as a non-profit bankcard processing cooperative. Two years later, First Data Resources (FDR) was founded in
Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
in June 1971. It started off by providing processing services to the Mid-America Bankcard Association (MABA). In 1976, First Data became the first processor of
Visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...
and MasterCard bank-issued credit cards. In 1980,
American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
Information Services Corporation (ISC) bought 80% of First Data. The remaining 20% was purchased in 5% increments each subsequent year until June 1983. First Data Corporation was incorporated on April 7, 1989. First Data Corporation was spun off from
American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...
and went public in 1992. In 1995, the company merged with First Financial Management Corp. (FFMC) and was then organized into three major business units serving card issuers,
merchants A merchant is a person who trades in commodities produced by other people, especially one who trades with foreign countries. Historically, a merchant is anyone who is involved in business or trade. Merchants have operated for as long as industry ...
and consumers.
Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...
became part of First Data as a result of the merger with FFMC.


Expansion

From 2001 through 2005, a period of expansion occurred as First Data acquired companies around the globe and in the US, including, in 2001, the acquisition of PaySys International and their VisionPLUS Payment Software System.
VisionPLUS VisionPLUS is a financial software application from First Data Corporation. Originally developed by the Paysys Research and Development Group, this application is mainly used for credit card transaction processing by banks and transaction processi ...
was followed by a $6.6 billion merger with Concord EFS, Inc. in 2004, which added the STAR Network and PIN-based debit acceptance at more than 1.9 million ATM and retail locations. Additional acquisitions and strategic relationships included GovOne, eONEGlobal, Paymap, Inc., and Taxware. Nevertheless, First Data eventually divested, closed down or absorbed these businesses. On January 26, 2006, First Data announced its intention to spin off
Western Union The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company chang ...
into an independent publicly traded company through a tax-free spin-off of 100% of Western Union to First Data
shareholder A shareholder (in the United States often referred to as stockholder) of a corporation is an individual or legal entity (such as another corporation, a body politic, a trust or partnership) that is registered by the corporation as the legal own ...
s. The spin off occurred as planned on September 29, 2006. On April 2, 2007, it was announced that
Kohlberg Kravis Roberts KKR & Co. Inc., also known as Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., is an American global investment company that manages multiple alternative asset classes, including private equity, energy, infrastructure, real estate, credit, and, through its strate ...
(KKR) had entered an agreement to acquire First Data in one of the largest leveraged buy-outs in history, and on October 1, 2007, KKR officially took over the First Data Corporation. Ric Duques retired, and
Michael Capellas Michael David Capellas (born August 19, 1954) is an American executive in the computer and telecommunication industries. Capellas served as chairman and CEO of First Data Corporation, acting CEO of Serena Software, chairman and CEO of Compaq Com ...
, previously the CEO of
MCI Inc. MCI, Inc. (subsequently Worldcom and MCI WorldCom) was a telecommunications company. For a time, it was the second largest long-distance telephone company in the United States, after AT&T. Worldcom grew largely by acquiring other telecommunic ...
, the president of
Hewlett-Packard Company The Hewlett-Packard Company, commonly shortened to Hewlett-Packard ( ) or HP, was an American multinational information technology company headquartered in Palo Alto, California. HP developed and provided a wide variety of hardware components ...
, and also the chairman/CEO of the
Compaq Computer Corporation Compaq Computer Corporation (sometimes abbreviated to CQ prior to a 2007 rebranding) was an American information technology company founded in 1982 that developed, sold, and supported computers and related products and services. Compaq produced ...
was appointed CEO. As a privately owned company, First Data's stock was taken off the
New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is by far the world's largest stock exchange by market capitalization of its listed c ...
on September 24, 2007. However, the company's LBO was financed with $24 billion in debt, and it remains heavily leveraged. In June 2014, First Data raised a historic $3.5 billion private placement. $1.2 billion of the placement came from KKR; however the majority, $2.3 billion, was from hedge funds, mutual funds and institutions. With this action the company reduced total debt by $3.3 billion, improving net leverage by 1.3 turns and significantly reducing annual cash interest payments. The company continues to maintain investor relations pages on its web site and to publish quarterly financial results. Within two months of the KKR acquisition, the company laid off 1,700 employees across North America, Europe and Australia, about 6% of its workforce. First Data provided Go-Tag ( contactless and
mobile payment A mobile payment, also referred to as mobile money, mobile money transfer and mobile wallet, is any of various payment processing services operated under financial regulations and performed from or via a mobile device, as the cardinal class of d ...
technology) stickers to delegates and media representatives at the
2008 Democratic National Convention The 2008 Democratic National Convention was a quadrennial presidential nominating convention of the Democratic Party where it adopted its national platform and officially nominated its candidates for president and vice president. The conventi ...
in Denver, who used them to buy food and beverages. These stickers possessed
NFC NFC may refer to: Psychology * Need for cognition, in psychology * Need for closure, social psychological term Sports * NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game * NCAA Football Championship (Philippines) * Nati ...
chips which were read by First Data scanners, which through its back-end system deducted the purchase sum from the Go-Tag ID's balance. First Data provided the trusted service manager that provisioned accounts to the new mobile Google Wallet system. First Data entered the Ireland market in a joint venture with
Allied Irish Banks Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is one of the so-called Big Four commercial banks in Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of general insurance products such as home, trav ...
PLC named AIB Merchant Services on January 18, 2008. First Data also acquired
ICICI Bank ICICI Bank Limited is an Indian Private bank. It is headquartered at Mumbai. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services for corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and specialized subsidiari ...
's merchant services business in 2009 for 4 billion
Indian rupee The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 ''paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use wh ...
s (US$80 million). It also partnered with
Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...
in 2009 to form
Bank of America Merchant Services Bank of America Merchant Services was a merchant services company owned by partners Bank of America and Fiserv. It was among the largest payment processing companies in the United States based on card-transaction volume. Bank of America Merchant ...
. First Data and KKR
vetted Vetting is the process of performing a background check on someone before offering them employment, conferring an award, or doing fact-checking prior to making any decision. In addition, in intelligence gathering, assets are vetted to determine th ...
more than 60 startups before, in October 2013, announcing it had acquired POS startup
Clover Clover or trefoil are common names for plants of the genus ''Trifolium'' (from Latin ''tres'' 'three' + ''folium'' 'leaf'), consisting of about 300 species of flowering plants in the legume or pea family Fabaceae originating in Europe. The genus ...
, cardless mobile loyalty startup
Perka Clover Rewards (formerly Perka) is a digital loyalty marketing platform that was launched in April 2011. An alternative to traditional paper and plastic card-based incentive programs, Clover Rewards provides interaction, interactive loyalty market ...
, and Gyft in 2014. In March 2010, Joe Forehand took over as chairman and interim CEO. In September that same year, Jonathan Judge assumed those roles until his early retirement in January 2013, after which Edward Labry covered the interim post.


Under Frank Bisignano

In April 2013, First Data's Board of Directors announced that former
JPMorgan Chase JPMorgan Chase & Co. is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered in New York City and incorporated in Delaware. As of 2022, JPMorgan Chase is the largest bank in the United States, the ...
Co-
COO COO or coo may refer to: Business * Certificate of origin, used in international trade * Chief operating officer or chief operations officer, high-ranking corporate official * Concept of operations, used in Systems Engineering Management Process ...
Frank Bisignano Frank J. Bisignano (born August 9, 1959) is an American businessman and the President and CEO of Fiserv. He previously served as the CEO of First Data Corporation and the COO of JPMorgan Chase. Career Based in New York City, Bisignano started hi ...
had been named Chief Executive Officer of the company. In March 2014, Bisignano assumed the role of Chairman. Upon taking office, Bisignano launched an equity ownership plan for all 24,000 of First Data owner-associates. In 2014, Bisignano promoted notable additions to the company's staff, such as Sanjiv Das, Himanshu Patel, Guy Chiarello, Cindy Armine-Klein, Andrew Gelb, Adam Rosman, Carmen Menendez-Puerto, Joseph Plumeri, Christopher Augustin and Michael Manos. In early 2014, First Data's STAR ATM Network adopted the Visa and MasterCard common application IDs for
EMV EMV is a payment method based on a technical standard for smart payment cards and for payment terminals and automated teller machines which can accept them. EMV stands for " Europay, Mastercard, and Visa", the three companies that created th ...
-compliant debit transactions. Since joining, Bisignano has tried to ''"transform First Data into a provider of new technology for small- and medium-sized businesses"''. In June 2014, First Data introduced the Insightics solution for small and medium size businesses. Insightics is a cloud-based software that enables small and medium size businesses to monitor key business metrics. First Data created Insightics with Palantir. In August 2014, First Data expanded its presence in Brazil with Bin, the company's acquiring solution developed specifically for the local market. In September 2014, First Data announced it would provide encryption technology for
Apple Pay Apple Pay is a mobile payment service by Apple Inc. that allows users to make payments in person, in iOS apps, and on the web. It is supported on these Apple devices: iPhone, Apple Watch, iPad, and Mac. It digitizes and can replace a cred ...
. Apple Pay allows payment with a single touch. With its integration into First Data's STAR Network, the company became a token service provider, supporting safe POS transactions in Apple Pay. Such transactions are used in venues such as all
McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...
restaurants in the US. In October 2014, First Data announced the Enhanced TransArmor Solution for small businesses. First Data's TransArmor Solution protects payment card data throughout the transaction process, incorporating several security and compliance products into one multi-layered solution. In late 2014, First Data announced its collaboration with
Capgemini Capgemini SE is a multinational information technology (IT) services and consulting company, headquartered in Paris, France. History Capgemini was founded by Serge Kampf in 1967 as an enterprise management and data processing company. The comp ...
to develop new solutions based on First Data's AccessPLUS and VisionPLUS products, planning to offer new technologies in the second quarter of 2015. The company also announced its partnership with
Verifone Verifone is an American multinational corporation headquartered in Coral Springs, Florida. Verifone provides technology for electronic payment transactions and value-added services at the point-of-sale. Verifone sells merchant-operated, consume ...
, wherein merchants using integrated point-of-sale systems that process payments will have a security option when using terminals made by VeriFone Systems Inc. In 2015, Samsung announced its
Samsung Pay Samsung Pay (stylized as SΛMSUNG Pay) is a mobile payment and digital wallet service by Samsung Electronics that lets users make payments using compatible phones and other Samsung-produced devices. The service supports contactless payments usin ...
mobile system in conjunction with First Data. Samsung Pay uses NFC to make payments at POS systems that accept First Data's technology. In February 2015, First Data reported its first profitable quarter in 29 quarters since its 2007 privatization. In July 2015, First Data acquired Transaction Wireless, a provider of
gift card A gift card also known as gift certificate in North America, or gift voucher or gift token in the UK is a prepaid stored-value money card, usually issued by a retailer or bank, to be used as an alternative to cash for purchases within a parti ...
solutions. In September that year, First Data Corporation acquired
Spree Commerce Spree Commerce is an open-source headless e-commerce platform. It was created by Sean Schofield in 2007 and has since had over 800 contributors and over 1.5 million downloads from RubyGems. Companies using Spree include Goop (company), Crafts ...
, an open source e-commerce platform. Details of the transaction were not disclosed. In the biggest U.S. IPO of 2015 according to Bloomberg, First Data planned to seek a minimum of $2.5 billion, even up to $3.2 billion (according to ''Bloomberg'') or $3.7 billion (according to the ''Wall Street Journal''). In October that year, First Data sold 160 million shares for $16 apiece, after offering them for $18 and $20. It raised $2.56 billion. According to ''Bloomberg'': "lowering First Data's debt level will be an important step for the company because it will free up money to invest in the business".


2016 and 2017

First Data and
Alipay Alipay () is a third-party mobile and online payment platform, established in Hangzhou, China in February 2004 by Alibaba Group and its founder Jack Ma. In 2015, Alipay moved its headquarters to Pudong, Shanghai, although its parent compan ...
announced a partnership in October 2016 to bring Alipay's mobile payment processing to the United States. Later in 2017, First Data and Alipay announced the implementation of the "point-of-sale" technology, and that Clover would be the first point-of-sale to accept the mobile payment method. In 2017 First Data announced the launch of their Integrated Solutions Group (ISG), with Edward Jackson to lead the new business segment. Later that February, First Data announced its first ISG partner, ShopKeep, a technology company that allows an iPad to be used as a cash register. In March 2017 First Data announced the acquisition of Acculynk, an ecommerce technology company focused on debit payments. In May 2017 First Data announced their Global PFAC product, which provided payment facilitators with access to a single integration interface. On May 29, 2017 First Data announced its plans to acquire CardConnect, a provider of payment processing which processed approximately $26 billion of volume annually, for $750 million. In June 2017, First Data launched Fraud Detect, which uses artificial intelligence and
machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...
, fraud scoring, cybersecurity intelligence, and information from the "Dark Web" to identify potentially fraudulent transactions. On October 20, 2017, First Data announced plans to acquire BluePay, a technology-enabled payment processor with about $19 billion in annual volume, for $760 Million.


Expansion in India

First Data has the tie up with
ICICI Bank ICICI Bank Limited is an Indian Private bank. It is headquartered at Mumbai. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services for corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and specialized subsidiari ...
, India's largest
private bank Private banks are banks owned by either the individual or a general Partner (business rank), partner(s) with limited partner(s). Private banks are not incorporation (business), incorporated. In any such case, creditors can look to both the "enti ...
in the dealing of merchant services, ICICI Merchant Services is proving the domestic and international Merchant account to Indian registered companies having a bank account with
ICICI Bank ICICI Bank Limited is an Indian Private bank. It is headquartered at Mumbai. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services for corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and specialized subsidiari ...
. ICICI Merchant Services with First Data is offering 3D Secure merchant services along with MOTO Machine to merchant and store to process payment by
credit card A credit card is a payment card issued to users (cardholders) to enable the cardholder to pay a merchant for goods and services based on the cardholder's accrued debt (i.e., promise to the card issuer to pay them for the amounts plus the o ...
.


Acquisition by fiserv

On January 16, 2019, First Data announced it would be acquired by
Fiserv Fiserv, Inc. () is an American multinational company headquartered in Brookfield, Wisconsin that provides financial technology services to clients across the financial services sector, including: banks, thrifts, credit unions, securities broker ...
in an all stock transaction valued at $22 billion. The deal was scheduled to be finalized in the second half of 2019. Fiserv completed the acquisition of First Data on July 29, 2019.


Headquarters

First Data's original headquarters, where the company remained based until 1992, were in
Omaha, Nebraska Omaha ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Douglas County. Omaha is in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 39th-largest cit ...
. First Data's headquarters were located in Greenwood Village,
Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...
. In 2009 First Data announced that it was moving its headquarters from
Greater Denver Denver is the central city of a conurbation region in the U.S. state of Colorado. The conurbation includes one continuous region consisting of the six central counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, and Jefferson. The Denver r ...
to Atlanta. While the official First Data headquarters are located in
Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
, First Data's principal executive offices are in
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.


Philanthropy

In October 2014, First Data launched First Data Salutes. First Data Salutes is the company-wide military engagement strategy aimed at helping the veteran-owned business community and service members and their families transitioning to civilian careers. In 2015, First Data made a seven-year, $7 million commitment to the Institute for Veterans and Military Families at
Syracuse University Syracuse University (informally 'Cuse or SU) is a Private university, private research university in Syracuse, New York. Established in 1870 with roots in the Methodist Episcopal Church, the university has been nonsectarian since 1920. Locate ...
to fund education, research, training and other opportunities for transitioning veterans entering the business community. The company was listed on DiversityInc's 25 Noteworthy Companies for 2015. In May 2017 First Data was recognized as the #1 company on the ''
Military Times Sightline Media Group, formerly Gannett Government Media and Army Times Publishing Company, is a United States company that publishes newspapers, magazines, websites, and other publications about the U.S. and other militaries. The company's '' ...
'' annual “Best for Vets: Employers 2017” list.Best for Vets: Employers 2017
''
Military Times Sightline Media Group, formerly Gannett Government Media and Army Times Publishing Company, is a United States company that publishes newspapers, magazines, websites, and other publications about the U.S. and other militaries. The company's '' ...
''


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:First Data Banking technology Financial services companies of the United States Financial services companies established in 1971 Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange Companies based in Atlanta American companies established in 1971 1971 establishments in Nebraska Payment systems Merchant services Online payments Financial technology companies 2015 initial public offerings 2019 mergers and acquisitions