Fote nets $50.8 million on stock sale

David Milstead, Rocky Mountain News

Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Former First Data CEO Charlie Fote sold $106 million worth of his former employer's stock Friday, reaping the rewards of his long tenure at the money-moving firm.

Fote exercised 2.37 million options for a profit of $50.8 million, according to a securities filing.

He resigned suddenly in November as Wall Street pressure mounted on the company to keep its slow-growth businesses from harming the star performer Western Union. He was succeeded by his predecessor, Ric Duques, who announced last week the Greenwood Village-based company will spin off Western Union to shareholders later this year.

Fote (pronounced FOH-tee) spent 30 years with First Data and its predecessor companies. He and Duques (DEW-kez) are credited as the two men who built the company into an international money-moving powerhouse.

American Express has owned and then spun off First Data not once but twice, with the latter deal occurring in 1992. But Fote traces his First Data roots to 1975, before American Express ever owned it.

He became executive vice president of First Data in 1991 and president and chief operating officer in 1998. In 2002, he became CEO and in 2003 also became chairman.

All but 200,000 of the options Fote exercised Friday were given to him before his ascension to the CEO post. Many had exercise prices below $20, with some as low as $12.33.

Friday's profits come on top of $53.4 million he made from 2002 to 2004, his first three years as CEO. The bulk of that came from long-term profits on stock options that Fote held from 1992 to 2002.

Securities filings suggest Fote still has about 750,000 stock options, with potential profits of more than $17 million, remaining. A company spokesman declined to comment.

First Data

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