In February 2009 the company entered into an agreement with Fexco to acquire 100% of its shares for $ 159.9 million. Most service points of Western Union work in the time convenient for customers throughout the week and throughout the year. 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 1933, by the Western Union Company were invented "singing telegrams". In October 1871 the company Western Union began to provide money transfer services, drawing on its own extensive telegraph network.