Western Union has taken of 451st position in the rating Fortune 500 in 2009, having moved from 473rd line in 2008. 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. Another invention of Western Union - time synchronization. In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Western Union for more than 130 years provides money transfer services to its customers.