In February 2009 the company entered into an agreement with Fexco to acquire 100% of its shares for $ 159.9 million. In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. July 3, 1884 the company's shares were included in the calculation base for the newly created stock index Dow Jones Transportation Average. In 1991, Western Union has sold some low-profit division of the company AT & T, GM Hughes Electronics, and to some others. In the same year the company changed its name to New Valley Corp. In October 1871 the company Western Union began to provide money transfer services, drawing on its own extensive telegraph network.