Newly private First Data said it will cut about 6 percent of its 29,000-employee work force, roughly 1,700 people worldwide.

The cuts will affect about 100 Colorado employees, spokeswoman Staci Busby said. Positions at all levels were impacted, including management.

"At the same time, we have added a significant number of new employees through recent acquisitions," she said in an e-mail. "Due to the number of new employees we have added, our year-end global head count is expected to remain the same."

First Data went private Sept. 24 in a leveraged buyout by New York firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. KKR brought in former MCI CEO Michael Capellas to replace the retiring Ric Duques.

In the company's latest quarterly filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, First Data said it has implemented a strategic "100- day plan."

The plan calls for revenue growth, plus "efficiencies . . . and other near-term cost-saving initiatives, as well as certain reductions in personnel."

First Data's filing says "the reduction in personnel and associated costs are expected to be significant" and will mostly happen by year-end.

First Data is consolidating 12 data centers into three and seven "command centers" into two. The company announced that plan soon after Duques became CEO in the fall of 2005.

Also, the company said in September it hopes to save $150 million annually by outsourcing many of its nearly 6,000 technology employees.

The structure of the First Data sale requires tight expense management.

In a leveraged buyout, the company's new owners use debt to purchase the company, then pay back the obligation from the company's earnings. Of the $26.4 billion purchase price, KKR used $22 billion in debt.

The buyout raised some concerns about First Data's corporate headquarters staying here, but Busby said new executives have moved to Colorado and the Denver area continues to be First Data's worldwide headquarters.

"We remain committed to Denver and the state of Colorado," she added.