First Data Corporation

First Data Corporation

Type	Public
Traded as	: FDC
Industry	Financial services
Founded	1971 (1971)
Headquarters	Atlanta, Georgia, United States
Key people	Frank Bisignano (CEO)
Products	Merchant services
Revenue	US$11.451 billion
Number of employees	23,000 (2015)
Website	www.firstdata.com

First Data Corporation is a global payment technology solutions company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. The company's STAR interbank network offers PIN-secured debit acceptance at ATM and retail locations.

First Data has a global footprint of 6 million merchants, the largest in the payments industry. The company handles 45% of all US credit and debit transactions, including handling prepaid gift card processing for many US brands such as Starbucks. It processes over $1 trillion in card transactions annually, with an 80% market share in gas and groceries. First Data has also provided shopping metrics for national news networks such as USA Today, ESPN, The New York Times and Vox.

In October 2015, First Data sold 160 million shares in the in its IPO, in order to pay down its debt.

The company has been recognized by the UK's Information Commissioner's Office as one of the companies whose binding corporate rules for data privacy are aligned with the EU's Data Protection Directive.

First Data Corporation was incorporated in 1971. In 1980, American Express 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 spun off from American Express 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 and consumers. Western Union became part of First Data as a result of the merger with FFMC.