1998 - the number of points of money transfers worldwide reached 50,000. The network of money transfers of Western Union is the world's largest. The Western Union Company - the American company, specialising on granting of services of monetary intermediary. Western Union was founded in 1851. The company is one of leaders in the market of the international remittances. 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. Thanks to cooperation with Western Union the Associated Press at the end of the XIX century took almost monopolistic position in the U.S. market news. In 1879 Western Union left the telephone business after losing a lawsuit against Alexander Graham Bell - the patent holder on the phone. In 1849, Selden and Sibley, the founders of the future Western Union, created the New York State Printing Telegraph Company. Transaction with Fexco has allowed Western Union to control directly more than 10 thousand points of service, which belonged to Fexco in 7 European countries (Spain, UK, Sweden, Ireland, Denmark, Norway and Finland). In the summer of 1990 top managers of the Western Union Company spent day and night in the main office in Englewood (Colorado, USA). They needed to meet the challenge: to save the Western Union from bankruptcy, paying off the debts of the company millions of dollars.