America was on the verge of civil war and needed a reliable connection between the North and South. On the telegraph market of the USA at this time were operated with six large companies: American Telegraph Company, New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company, Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph, Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company, New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company, and the brainchild of Sibley & Co. - The Western Union Telegraph. In 1920, Western Union has implemented the world's first transmission of images over the ocean. Another invention of Western Union - time synchronization. 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). Before transition to remittances Western Union company rendered services on sphere of cable communication. 1970 - a new service called 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. Sibley, the founder of Western Union, did not build a new telegraph lines, and persuaded the other players to join. American Telegraph Company, however, still had to buy it.