In the early forties of the 20th century, Western Union has used the first time a commercial intercity microwave transmission system. Leaving the idea of expansion into Europe, Western Union took up the expansion of services in the U.S. market. In October 2006 the company made an initial public offering of shares on the New York Stock Exchange, becoming independent from First Data company. In 1914 Western Union engineers invented the first payment card - a prototype of the modern credit card. Western Union incomes for 2007 have made $4,9 billion US dollars, and the quantity of transactions has made 572 million.