In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. In 1995, First Financial Management was acquired by First Data Corp. (the deal amounted to $ 7 billion), and Western Union Financial Services became a subsidiary of First Data. In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. One of the common kinds of money transfer is a transfer via the international system of Western Union. 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 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 2000 was launched the Web site westernunion.com, with which users from certain countries can independently transfer funds online. Western Union provides consumers and businesses with fast, reliable and convenient ways to send and receive money around the world, to send payments and to purchase money orders. On the market was placed about 765 million of ordinary shares of the company. On the first day trading on the exchange the company's shares rose by 3.3% and the cost was $ 19.96.