In February 2009 the company entered into an agreement with Fexco to acquire 100% of its shares for $ 159.9 million. 1980 - for the first time in the history of Western Union revenues from money transfers exceeded the income from the telegraph service. In 1920, Western Union has implemented the world's first transmission of images over the ocean. In April 1851 companions registered in Albany New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company (NYMVPTC), which included founded two years before New York State Printing Telegraph Company. The size of the commission fee for the transfer is charged according to the Western Union tariffs and depends on the amount of money sent. 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). One of the common kinds of money transfer is a transfer via the international system of Western Union. In 1879 Western Union left the telephone business after losing a lawsuit against Alexander Graham Bell - the patent holder on the phone. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States.