In February 2009 the company entered into an agreement with Fexco to acquire 100% of its shares for $ 159.9 million. Another invention of Western Union - time synchronization. In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. In October 1871 the company Western Union began to provide money transfer services, drawing on its own extensive telegraph network. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide. In 1884 Western Union has become a joint-stock company and was brought to the stock exchange. The company has entered in the first American stock index Dow Jones.