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. Another invention of Western Union - time synchronization. July 3, 1884 the company's shares were included in the calculation base for the newly created stock index Dow Jones Transportation Average. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States.