Western Union has taken of 451st position in the rating Fortune 500 in 2009, having moved from 473rd line in 2008. 1980 - for the first time in the history of Western Union revenues from money transfers exceeded the income from the telegraph service. Western Union offers one of the easiest ways for families and friends to send money and stay connected almost anywhere in the world. As a result of 2011, net income of Western Union has increased by 28% to $ 1.165 billion, the company reported. 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. 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. Western Union made so that the time in all of American civil services was the same. Sibley, the founder of Western Union, did not build a new telegraph lines, and persuaded the other players to join. American Telegraph Company, however, still had to buy it.