In February 2009 the company entered into an agreement with Fexco to acquire 100% of its shares for $ 159.9 million. 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). Western Union incomes for 2007 have made $4,9 billion US dollars, and the quantity of transactions has made 572 million. Before transition to remittances Western Union company rendered services on sphere of cable communication. 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. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide.