MICROSOFT AND FIRST DATA FORM NEW COMPANY
By Adnews Staff
U.S.-based Microsoft Corp. has teamed up with First Data Corp. of Denver to form a new company called MSFDC. The company will begin operating in early 1998 and will introduce a service that will enable companies to use the Internet to send bills to and receive payments from consumers. The service will allow consumers to pay their bills through the branded home-banking services of participating financial institutions or directly using a Web site hosted by the venture. Microsoft is looking into how to implement the service here in Canada because bill payments here are different than in the U.S., Microsoft's Canadian electronic commerce manager Bertrand Labelle told Adnews this week. Labelle also said it was too early to say how the company will be marketed in Canada, and didn't know if Microsoft will use its existing agencies to help promote the service or if the company will hire another agency. Advertising for Microsoft is done by The Communique Group, while Media Buying Services does media buying and Hill and Knowlton of Toronto handles PR. All agencies are based in Toronto.