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). July 3, 1884 the company's shares were included in the calculation base for the newly created stock index Dow Jones Transportation Average. Western Union incomes for 2007 have made $4,9 billion US dollars, and the quantity of transactions has made 572 million. 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.