- New, Combined Entity to Offer Greater Choice,
                 Voice and Innovation to Payments Industry -

               - Richard P. Kiphart added to First Data Board -

    DENVER, Feb. 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC), a
global leader in electronic commerce and payment services, today announced
that it has completed its merger transaction with Concord EFS (NYSE: CE).
First Data now has more than 30,000 employees worldwide and by the end of 2004
expects to have more than $10 billion in annual revenues.
    "We are delighted to complete the merger between First Data and Concord.
The new company will bring significant offerings to the payments industry,
including more choices at the point of sale, to benefit consumers, merchants
and banks alike," said First Data Chairman and CEO Charlie Fote.  "We
appreciate the hard work and dedication of everyone involved in the merger
approval process and look forward to delivering on our promise of bringing
more choice, voice and innovation to the industry through the strategic
integration of these two businesses."
    Concord EFS shareholders of record as of January 16, 2004, voted to
approve the merger transaction on February 26, 2004.  First Data shareholders
voted to approve the issuance of First Data shares pursuant to the merger on
October 28, 2003.
    Under the terms of the merger agreement with Concord as amended, each
share of Concord stock was converted into 0.365 First Data common shares.  The
transaction is valued at approximately $7 billion based on yesterday's closing
price of $40.79.  First Data issued approximately 170 million common shares to
Concord shareholders, who now own approximately 19 percent of the outstanding
shares of the combined company.
    Additionally, Richard P. Kiphart from the Concord Board of Directors will
join the First Data Board of Directors.
    "We welcome the talents of Mr. Kiphart to the First Data Board of
Directors at this key point in our company history," said Fote.  "We look
forward to his guidance and contributions as we continue to grow worldwide."

    About First Data
    First Data Corp. (NYSE: FDC), with global headquarters in Denver, helps
power the global economy.  As a leader in electronic commerce and payment
services, First Data serves approximately 3.1 million merchant locations,
1,400 card issuers and millions of consumers, making it easy, fast and secure
for people and businesses to buy goods and services using virtually any form
of payment.  With 30,000 employees worldwide, the company provides credit,
debit, smart card and stored-value card issuing and merchant transaction
processing services; Internet commerce solutions; money transfer services;
money orders; and check processing and verification services throughout the
United States.  First Data also offers a variety of payment services in the
United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Spain, the Netherlands, the
Middle East and Germany.  Its Western Union and Orlandi Valuta money transfer
networks include a total of approximately 182,000 agent locations in more than
195 countries and territories.

   Notice to Investors, Prospective Investors and the Investment Community
         Cautionary Information Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

    Statements in this press release regarding First Data Corporation's
business which are not historical facts, including the projected cost savings
and impact of the transaction on earnings and earnings per share, are
"forward-looking statements."  All forward-looking statements are inherently
uncertain as they are based on various expectations and assumptions concerning
future events and they are subject to numerous known and unknown risks and
uncertainties which could cause actual events or results to differ materially
from those projected.  Important factors upon which the Company's
forward-looking statements are premised include: (a) timely implementation and
execution of merger integration plans; (b) the ability to implement
comprehensive plans for asset rationalization; (c) the successful integration
of the IT systems and elimination of duplicative overhead and IT costs without
unexpected costs or delays; (d) retention of customers and critical employees;
(e) successfully leveraging First Data/Concord's comprehensive product
offering to the combined customer base; (f) continued growth at rates
approximating recent levels for card-based payment transactions and other
product markets; (g) no unanticipated changes in laws, regulations, credit
card association rules or other industry standards which require significant
product redevelopment efforts, reduce the market for or value of its products
or render products obsolete; (h) no unanticipated developments relating to
previously disclosed lawsuits or similar matters; (i) no catastrophic events
that could impact the Company's or its major customer's operating facilities,
communication systems and technology or that has a material negative impact on
current economic conditions or levels of consumer spending; (j) no material
breach of security of any of the Company's systems; (k) continuing development
and maintenance of appropriate business continuity plans for the Company's
processing systems based on the needs and risks relative to each such system;
and (l) successfully managing the potential both for patent protection and
patent liability in the context of rapidly developing legal framework for
expansive software patent protection.

    FDC-1

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