In 1860 the U.S. Congress arranged among the telegraph companies a competition to create a national line. The winner was Western Union. Another invention of Western Union - time synchronization. In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. Before transition to remittances Western Union company rendered services on sphere of cable communication. In 2000 was launched the Web site westernunion.com, with which users from certain countries can independently transfer funds online. Number of active holders of "Golden Card" of Western Union amounted to 9.5 million people worldwide. In 1884 Western Union has become a joint-stock company and was brought to the stock exchange. The company has entered in the first American stock index Dow Jones.