First Data's decision to cut more than 500 jobs from its Denverlocation has drawn attention to the company and its relationship tothe firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts.

Hundreds of credit unions process transactions on First Data'scredit and debit card platforms, including many which processtransactions with payment CUSOs PSCU and The Members Group.

The processor confirmed the job cuts with Denver media on Nov.21 but made no formal announcement of the move.

A company spokesman told the Denver Post that the cutswere part of “ongoing efforts to increase operating efficiency,reduce excess capacity and remain competitive in the fast-pacedpayments business.”

Some of the employees from the cut positions will be relocatedto other First Data locations but some would lose their jobs, thecompany spokesman said.

The move comes as the latest in a series of steps the companyhas taken after being taken private by KKR in a leveraged buyout in 2007.

The most recent of these included a restructuring of the firm's debt in October of this year, amove which received the approval of at least oneratings agency. The moves have been necessary as thecompany has continued to lose money ever since 2007, according todocuments filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, eventhough it was significantly profitable in 2006, the year before thetakeover.

The Wall Street Journal on Sunday published a column by Al Lewis, a Denver-area writer who recapped some ofthe company's struggles since the 2007 takeover.

“The credit-card transaction company is much like a consumer whoran up too much credit-card debt and may never be able to pay itback,” Lewis wrote at the end of his column.

First Data did not dispute anything in the column but inreaction emphasized the way it said it is moving forward.

“First Data is transforming itself into a more client-focused,efficient and innovation-driven company,” a spokesman toldCredit Union Times on Monday. “This evolution includesreturning the company to profitability and better leveragingour assets to help our clients grow their businesses. Another partof the evolution will be in how we do business: drivingcollaboration with our clients, innovating new solutions, andfacilitating incubation of new technologies with startupcompanies.”

The spokesman also pointed to First Data's recent acquisition ofClover and Perka, a new point-of-sale system and rewards systemaimed at the small business market, as well as its recentlyannounced strategic relationship with Oberthur Technologies, aGerman firm which provides EMV cards as examples of the firm'sprogress.