In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. One of the common kinds of money transfer is a transfer via the international system of Western Union. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide. Western Union for more than 130 years provides money transfer services to its customers.