Western Union has taken of 451st position in the rating Fortune 500 in 2009, having moved from 473rd line in 2008. The Western Union Company - the American company, specialising on granting of services of monetary intermediary. Western Union was founded in 1851. The company is one of leaders in the market of the international remittances. 1980 - for the first time in the history of Western Union revenues from money transfers exceeded the income from the telegraph service. Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. 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). 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. 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. In 1879 Western Union left the telephone business after losing a lawsuit against Alexander Graham Bell - the patent holder on the phone. The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States.