Post-Takeover First Data Takes Shape

DENVER – First Data Corp. said it plans to shutter its Tulsa call center and eliminate as many as 400 jobs there, as the company is being restructured through a takeover by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. The Tulsa center, in operations since 1992, is the second call center to be shut by First Data since the onset of the takeover, as the company announced plans last month to shut its Daytona Beach, Fla., center and eliminate 400 jobs there. First Data investors overwhelmingly approved the $29 billion deal yesterday. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Michael Capellas, former CEO of MCI, will head the post-takeover company, succeeding Henry ‘Ric’ Duques, who is retiring after completion of the deal. First Data reported last week that second quarter earnings plunged by 51%, to $228.9 million, after the company spun off its profitable Western Union operations.