Western Union has taken of 451st position in the rating Fortune 500 in 2009, having moved from 473rd line in 2008. In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. In order to increase competitiveness and market expansion of its services, Western Union launched a program of loyalty Western Union Gold Card for customers, who has repeatedly made money transfers via Western Union. Separation of the companies had two objectives: first, to give Western Union the opportunity to develop more intensively, and secondly, to help First Data to return to its original activity (in 1992 the company separated from the payment system of American Express as an independent financial services company). The Western Union Company is a leader in global payment services In 2007 the company made 167.7 million transactions on money transfers between individuals and 404.6 million transactions between physical and legal persons. In 1991, Western Union has sold some low-profit division of the company AT & T, GM Hughes Electronics, and to some others. In the same year the company changed its name to New Valley Corp. 1970 - a new service called In 1856, in 7 years after the foundation of New York State Printing Telegraph Company, the company changed its name to Western Union Telegraph Company. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide.