Western Union has taken of 451st position in the rating Fortune 500 in 2009, having moved from 473rd line in 2008. In the early 60s Western Union has put into operation transcontinental microwave system of data transmission via radio waves, completely replacing the web of telegraph poles and wires. Separation of the companies had two objectives: first, to give Western Union the opportunity to develop more intensively, and secondly, to help First Data to return to its original activity (in 1992 the company separated from the payment system of American Express as an independent financial services company). In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. In 1933, by the Western Union Company were invented "singing telegrams". 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. Western Union for more than 130 years provides money transfer services to its customers.