First Data to bring HQ, 250 jobs to area

By By Péralte C. Paul

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

First Data Corp., the payments processor that once called Atlanta home, is coming back -- and bringing 250 jobs with it.

The company said it is relocating its corporate headquarters to Atlanta, more than eight years after it left for Denver. The jobs will follow over the next three years, it said.

In a regulatory filing Friday, the company said the move is part of an “overall global site strategy,” but that it will keep some operations in Denver and Omaha, Neb.

First Data already has a presence in metro Atlanta with 750 employees here in its prepaid services, mobile commerce, and e-commerce operations. In addition, the company’s senior operations, technology leadership and the majority of First Data’s executive committee is based in metro Atlanta, spokeswoman Nancy Etheredge said.

Moving to its new headquarters at the Glenridge Highlands II Building on the Glenridge Connector makes sense because First Data and Bank of America Merchant Services created a joint payments venture and based it in Atlanta, she said.

Atlanta, she added, has a cluster of companies in the payments industry -- including Global Payments and Elavon -- that are based here. Also, it is home to some of the company’s biggest customers, including SunTrust Banks and Home Depot.

It also is a good recruitment center with other Fortune 500 firms being based here, along with Emory University and Georgia Tech, she said.

In addition to its Glenridge offices, the company will have offices in Marietta, Kennesaw and Columbus.