First Data Corp. eliminated 100 positions from its metro Denver workforce in a companywide consolidation Thursday.
The Colorado cuts, about 5 percent of First Data’s metro-area employees, were among about 1,700 jobs the company eliminated from its global workforce, including 300 positions in Omaha and 60 in Hagerstown, Md.
Leveraged-buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis & Roberts Co. took First Data private in a $26.4 billion deal completed in late September.
KKR borrowed about $22 billion to fund the deal, which pressures First Data to operate as efficiently as possible.
The additional 1,200 jobs that were cut occurred in locations where First Data maintained a small concentration of employees.
The job reductions in metro Denver, where First Data employs about 2,000 workers, covered a broad range of positions, including management.
First Data, based in Greenwood Village, said it continues to add workers through acquisitions. Its total head count should end the year at 29,000, about where it started in 2007.
“These decisions are never easy to make and we understand the impact on people’s lives,” First Data spokeswoman Staci Busby said in a statement. “We will do everything that we can to support the affected employees through this transition.”
All employees losing their jobs will be eligible to receive severance benefits and outplacement services.
First Data affirmed that it would keep its corporate headquarters in Greenwood Village. Its new executive team, including incoming chief executive Michael Capellas, have relocated here.
Colorado should gain a still- undetermined number of jobs as technology and product-development groups relocate here, the company said.
“We are pleased with the affirmation that the corporate headquarters will remain in Denver,” said Tom Clark, executive vice president of the Metro Denver Economic Development Corp.
Capellas, who in the past headed Compaq Computer and MCI, has said he will focus on making First Data a leader in developing new payment methods, such as using cellphones and other devices to make purchases.
First Data’s relocation of product-development operations to the metro area should translate into more job growth over time, Clark predicted.
Aldo Svaldi: 303-954-1410 or asvaldi@denverpost.com
100
Jobs cut, about 5 percent of First Data’s local workforce, in the metro area
1,700
Jobs eliminated overall by the Greenwood Village-based credit-card-processing firm
29,000
Remaining workers, roughly what First Data employed at the start of the year
