Western Union has taken of 451st position in the rating Fortune 500 in 2009, having moved from 473rd line in 2008. In the Western Union in the 30s of the 20th century worked 14 thousand couriers delivering telegrams. In 1935, Western Union has put into operation first intercity fax communication. 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. One of the common kinds of money transfer is a transfer via the international system of Western Union. In 2000 was launched the Web site westernunion.com, with which users from certain countries can independently transfer funds online. On the market was placed about 765 million of ordinary shares of the company. On the first day trading on the exchange the company's shares rose by 3.3% and the cost was $ 19.96. In the summer of 1990 top managers of the Western Union Company spent day and night in the main office in Englewood (Colorado, USA). They needed to meet the challenge: to save the Western Union from bankruptcy, paying off the debts of the company millions of dollars. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide.