(COMTEX) B: First Data President Officially Assumes CEO Role; Growth Remains Vision for
Future
DENVER, Jan 2, 2002 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC)
today announced that Charlie Fote has officially assumed the role of president
and chief executive officer of the world's leading electronic commerce and
payment services company. Former chief executive officer, Ric Duques, remains
chairman through 2002.
"Everything has fallen into place for this transition to be completed smoothly.
My vision for the future builds upon the solid foundation we've established
under Ric's leadership," Fote said. "Continued growth in our core businesses
remains our goal as we continue to look for ways to provide efficient and
effective payment systems throughout the world."
Duques served as chairman and chief executive officer from the company's initial
public offering in 1992. Duques joined American Express in 1987, heading the
business that would eventually become First Data in the 1992 IPO.
"We've built a strong global payments company with consistent, strong operating
and financial performance -- especially over the last three years under
Charlie's leadership as president and chief operating officer," Duques said.
"I'm proud to have played a role in the development and growth of First Data
since its inception. I now look forward to seeing the company achieve even
greater success as First Data continues to provide safe and convenient ways for
both businesses and consumers to pay for goods and services around the globe."
"First Data has the most exceptional people you will ever meet," Fote said. "Our
employees know the payments business and have tremendous dedication to ensuring
payments happen seamlessly, efficiently and reliably. It's those values that
will take us to new heights."
"Even though we're processing billions of transactions today, that's still only
a small portion of the payment transactions taking place around the world
today," Fote added. "We plan to gain a much larger share of the rest of those
transactions through international expansion, innovation, strategic partnerships
and peerless delivery of our services."
Fote, who joined the company in 1975, managed many parts of the business, and
was named president and chief operating officer in 1998.
About First Data Corp.
First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC), with global headquarters in Denver, powers the
global economy. As the leader in electronic commerce and payment services, First
Data serves approximately 2.6 million merchant locations, 1,400 card issuers and
millions of consumers, making it easier, faster and more secure for people and
businesses to buy goods and services using virtually any form of payment. With
28,000 employees worldwide, the company provides credit, debit, smart card and
stored-value card issuing and merchant transaction processing services; Internet
commerce solutions; Western Union(R) money transfers and money orders; and check
processing and verifications services through the United States, United Kingdom,
Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Spain, The Netherlands, the Middle East and
Germany. Its money transfer agent network includes approximately 117,000
locations in more than 185 countries and territories. For more information,
please visit the company's Web site at www.firstdata.com.
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SOURCE First Data Corp.
CONTACT: David Banks of First Data Corp., +1-303-967-8057,
david.banks@firstdatacorp.com
URL: firstdata.com
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Copyright (C) 2002 PR Newswire. All rights reserved.
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KEYWORD: Colorado
INDUSTRY KEYWORD: CPR
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FIN
SUBJECT CODE: PER
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