In February 2009 the company entered into an agreement with Fexco to acquire 100% of its shares for $ 159.9 million. In the early forties of the 20th century, Western Union has used the first time a commercial intercity microwave transmission system. The presence of Western Union Gold Card at the client greatly simplifies the process of further processing of money transfers of and reduces the operation time for the sending of money, as the "Gold Card" is a carrier of the personal information about the client. 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 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. In 2007 the company made 167.7 million transactions on money transfers between individuals and 404.6 million transactions between physical and legal persons. To obtain the Golden card can any client of Western Union, committing money transfers on this system more than 1 time per year. Getting the card is issued at the time of making of the next transfer. In 1933, by the Western Union Company were invented "singing telegrams".