In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. Most service points of Western Union work in the time convenient for customers throughout the week and throughout the year. In 1866, Sibley ordered the engineers to develop a Western Union telegraph system of stock quotes in real time. 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. In 1864, fearing the laying of long underwater lines, Western Union offered to carry out laying of telegraph lines to Europe through the Russian Alaska under the narrow Bering Strait and then to Siberia with branching in the major cities of Europe. The Western Union Company is a leader in global payment services In 1879 Western Union left the telephone business after losing a lawsuit against Alexander Graham Bell - the patent holder on the phone. In 2000 was launched the Web site westernunion.com, with which users from certain countries can independently transfer funds online. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States.