First Data 2014 Annual Report Download - page 4

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First Data Corporation (we or our) is a global provider of electronic commerce and payment solutions for merchants, financial institutions, and card issuers
with operations in 34 countries, serving approximately 6.2 million merchant locations. We were incorporated in Delaware in 1989 and were the subject of an
initial public offering in connection with a spin-off from American Express in 1992. On September 24, 2007, we were acquired through a merger transaction
with an entity controlled by affiliates of Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. (KKR) that resulted in our equity becoming privately held.
We have operations and offices located within the United States (U.S.) (domestic) and outside of the U.S. (international) where sales, customer service and/or
administrative personnel are based. Revenues generated from processing domestic and international transactions, regardless of the segments to which the
associated revenues applied, were 85% and 15% of our consolidated revenues for the year ended December 31, 2014, respectively. Long-lived assets
attributable to domestic and international operations as percentages of our total long-lived assets as of December 31, 2014 were 88% and 12%, respectively.
No individual international country is material to our total revenues or long-lived assets. Further financial information relating to our international and
domestic revenues and long-lived assets is set forth in Note 13 "Segment Information" to our Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this
Form 10-K.
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We are organized in three segments: Merchant Solutions, Financial Services, and International.
The segments’ profit measure is a form of EBITDA (earnings before net interest expense, income taxes, depreciation, and amortization). A discussion of
factors potentially affecting our operations is set forth in Item 7 “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”
of this Form 10-K. We do not have any significant customers that account for 10% or more of total consolidated revenues. Refer to the following segment
discussions, which address significant customer relationships within each segment.
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The Merchant Solutions segment is comprised of merchant acquiring and processing services, prepaid services and check verification, settlement, and
guarantee services.
The following table presents Merchant Solutions information as a percentage of total segment and All Other and Corporate:
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  
Segment revenues from external customers
52%
53%
53%
Segment EBITDA
63%
67%
65%
Assets (as of December 31)
69%
68%
68%
 Merchant Solutions businesses facilitate the acceptance of consumer transactions at the point of sale
(POS), whether it is a transaction at a physical merchant location, over the Internet or through a mobile (i.e. phone or tablet) device.
Merchant acquiring and processing services Merchant acquiring services facilitate the merchants’ ability to accept credit, debit, stored-value and loyalty
cards by authorizing, capturing, and settling the merchants’ transactions. Acquiring services also provide POS devices and other equipment necessary to
capture merchant transactions. The segment’s processing services include authorization, transaction capture, settlement, chargeback handling, and Internet-
based transaction processing. The vast majority of these services pertain to transactions in which consumer payments to merchants are made through a
payment network (such as VISA or MasterCard), a debit network (such as STAR Network, which is owned by us), or other payment issuers/networks (such as
American Express and Discover).
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