In the Western Union in the 30s of the 20th century worked 14 thousand couriers delivering telegrams. 1980 - for the first time in the history of Western Union revenues from money transfers exceeded the income from the telegraph service. As a result of 2011, net income of Western Union has increased by 28% to $ 1.165 billion, the company reported. Another invention of Western Union - time synchronization. Money transfer is a matter of minutes, at any distance. 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. You do not need to open a bank account, so you can send or receive money in any of the 170 000 service points of Western Union around the world. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. 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 1856, in 7 years after the foundation of New York State Printing Telegraph Company, the company changed its name to Western Union Telegraph Company.