First Data to create 1,000 jobs, not 250

By Péralte C. Paul

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

First Data Corp., which announced Friday it is relocating its headquarters to Atlanta from Denver, now says it expects to create as many as 1,000 new jobs over the next three years.

That’s significantly higher than the 250 positions the payments processor initially said it would create in returning to Atlanta, which had served as headquarters for the Fortune 500 firm until about eight years ago.

“We were being a little bit more conservative on our side,” said Elizabeth Grice, a First Data spokeswoman, explaining the reason for the initial figure.

The company initially used the 250 number because that’s the minimum number of jobs needed to qualify for state incentives, Grice said. The higher number emerged in a press release from the state of Georgia trumpeting the relocation.

State incentives include the Quality Jobs Tax credit, the amount of which will be determined based on the number of jobs actually created, said Alison Tyrer, a spokeswoman for the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

The agency also recommended that First Data receive a $250,000 infrastructure grant through the Department of Community Affairs.

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