In February 2009 the company entered into an agreement with Fexco to acquire 100% of its shares for $ 159.9 million. America was on the verge of civil war and needed a reliable connection between the North and South. On the telegraph market of the USA at this time were operated with six large companies: American Telegraph Company, New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company, Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph, Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company, New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company, and the brainchild of Sibley & Co. - The Western Union Telegraph. In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. In 1935, Western Union has put into operation first intercity fax communication. In 1877, starting from September, New York City residents began to have the opportunity to check the time on clock with the "time ball", located on the roof of constructed in the same year a new corporate headquarters - Western Union Building. July 3, 1884 the company's shares were included in the calculation base for the newly created stock index Dow Jones Transportation Average. Payment systems are one of basic elements of infrastructure of e-commerce. You do not need to open a bank account, so you can send or receive money in any of the 170 000 service points of Western Union around the world. In 1879 Western Union left the telephone business after losing a lawsuit against Alexander Graham Bell - the patent holder on the phone.