The 155-year-old Western Union had revenues of $4 billion last year and operating profits of $1.3 billion. Some portion of the 3,000 people who work locally for First Data are currently Western Union employees, but a First Data spokesman tells GlobeSt.com that he doesn't know how many of them will become full-time Western Union employees after the spin-off.

First Data CEO Ric Duques announced that the Western Union would not leave Denver--something real estate and economic development officials had feared--at the very end of a conference call last week. "Finally, the headquarters for First Data will remain in Denver, and Western Union will also be headquartered in Denver," Duques said.

First Data spokesman Colin Wheeler tells GlobeSt.com that he isn't sure how much square footage Western Union currently leases. He notes it currently has office space both in the Millennium building in Greenwood Village and in First Data's corporate headquarters, a campus in the Meridian International Business Park in Douglas County. "It hasn't been publicly announced yet where we will go after the spin-off is complete," Wheeler says, adding that it will be where the company currently has offices. He says it is too early to say whether Western Union will be hiring more people after the spin-off, and whether it will need to expand its office presence.