In February 2009 the company entered into an agreement with Fexco to acquire 100% of its shares for $ 159.9 million. 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. In 1935, Western Union has put into operation first intercity fax communication. Payment systems are one of basic elements of infrastructure of e-commerce. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Western Union made so that the time in all of American civil services was the same. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide.