Western Union has taken of 451st position in the rating Fortune 500 in 2009, having moved from 473rd line in 2008. July 3, 1884 the company's shares were included in the calculation base for the newly created stock index Dow Jones Transportation Average. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. In the 1910-1920 years. Western Union is actively engaged in researching, innovating in the field of data transmission. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide.