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. America was on the verge of civil war and needed a reliable connection between the North and South. On the telegraph market of the USA at this time were operated with six large companies: American Telegraph Company, New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company, Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph, Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company, New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company, and the brainchild of Sibley & Co. - The Western Union Telegraph. Another invention of Western Union - time synchronization. Each money transfer is protected with control number, that allows you to track and to ensure prompt payment of money specified by you person. Before transition to remittances Western Union company rendered services on sphere of cable communication. In 2000 was launched the Web site westernunion.com, with which users from certain countries can independently transfer funds online.