In February 2009 the company entered into an agreement with Fexco to acquire 100% of its shares for $ 159.9 million. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. Thanks to cooperation with Western Union the Associated Press at the end of the XIX century took almost monopolistic position in the U.S. market news. In 1879 Western Union left the telephone business after losing a lawsuit against Alexander Graham Bell - the patent holder on the phone. In 1849, Selden and Sibley, the founders of the future Western Union, created the New York State Printing Telegraph Company. Western Union for more than 130 years provides money transfer services to its customers.