Western Union has taken of 451st position in the rating Fortune 500 in 2009, having moved from 473rd line in 2008. In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. In 1995, First Financial Management was acquired by First Data Corp. (the deal amounted to $ 7 billion), and Western Union Financial Services became a subsidiary of First Data. In October 1871 the company has implemented the world's first telegraph money order. After a century money transfers have become a major source of income for Western Union. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Western Union for more than 130 years provides money transfer services to its customers.