{{{company_name}}}
Type	Public
Founded	1851
Headquarters	Englewood, Colorado
Industry	Aiding products = Financial services
Revenue	$3 billion USD (2005)
Website	westernunion.com

Western Union (NYSE: WU) is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters are in Englewood, Colorado, and its international marketing and commercial services headquarters are in Montvale, New Jersey. Until it discontinued the service, this company was the best known US company in the business of exchanging telegrams. Image File history File links Western_Union_money_transfer. ... 1851 (MDCCCLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Englewood is a city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado. ... Financial services is a term used to refer to the services provided by the finance industry. ... Revenue is a U.S. business term for the amount of money that a company earns from its activities in a given period, mostly from sales of products and/or services to customers. ... Image File history File links No higher resolution available. ... ISO 4217 Code USD User(s) the United States, the British Indian Ocean Territory[1], the British Virgin Islands, East Timor, Ecuador, El Salvador, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau, Panama, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the insular areas of the United States Inflation 2. ... A website (or Web site) is a collection of web pages, images, videos and other digital assets and hosted on a particular domain or subdomain on the World Wide Web. ... The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), nicknamed the Big Board, is a New York City-based stock exchange publicly held and listed under the symbol NYX on its own exchange. ... The term company may refer to a separate legal entity, as in English law, or may simply refer to a business, as is the common use in the United States. ... Englewood is a city located in Arapahoe County, Colorado. ... Map highlighting Montvales location within Bergen County. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ...

Western Union has a number of divisions, with products such as person-to-person money transfer, money orders, and commercial services. As of June 9, 2006, the company has 270,000 Western Union agent locations in over 200 countries and territories. Reported revenues top $3 billion annually. A money order is a payment order for a pre-specified amount of money. ... June 9 is the 160th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (161st in leap years), with 205 days remaining. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ...

History

Western Union was founded in Rochester, New York, in 1851 as The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. Nickname: The Flour City, The Flower City, The Worlds Image Center Motto: Rochester: Made for Living Location of Rochester in New York State Country United States State New York County Monroe  - Mayor Robert Duffy Area    - City  37. ... 1851 (MDCCCLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Friday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

After a series of acquisitions of competing companies by Hiram Sibley & Don Alonzo Watson the company changed its name to Western Union Telegraph Company in 1856 at the insistence of Ezra Cornell, one of the founders of Cornell University ^[1], to signify the joining of telegraph lines from coast to coast. Hiram Sibley (1807-1888) was an industrialist, entrepreneur, and philanthropist originally from Massachusetts, and later Rochester, New York. ... 1856 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... Ezra Cornell, co-founder of Cornell University Ezra Cornell (January 11, 1807 – December 9, 1874) was an American businessman and, with Andrew Dickson White, was the founder of Cornell University. ... Cornell University is a private university located in Ithaca, New York, USA. Its two medical campuses are in New York City and in Education City, Qatar. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ...

Western Union completed the first transcontinental telegraph line in 1861. In 1865 it formed the Russian American Telegraph in an attempt to link America to Europe, via Alaska, into Siberia, to Moscow. 1861 (MDCCCLXI) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link with display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the Julian calendar) // January 1 - Benito Juárez captures Mexico City January 2 - Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia dies and is succeeded by... The Russian American Telegraph was an undertaking by the Western Union Telegraph Company. ... The Western Union Telegraph Expedition of 1865 was an overland exploration of a possible telegraph route across Alaska undertaken by the Western Union Company. ...

It introduced the first stock ticker in 1866, and a standardized time service in 1870. The next year, 1871, the company introduced its money transfer service, based on its extensive telegraph network. In 1879, Western Union left the telephone business, having lost a patent lawsuit. As the telephone replaced the telegraph, money transfer would become its primary business. The board and equipment for Stock Ticker Stock Ticker is a now out of print board game that was popular upon its release and is still played today. ... 1866 (MDCCCLXVI) is a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar. ... 1870 (MDCCCLXX) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Monday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1871 (MDCCCLXXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... A value transfer system refers to any system, mechanism, or network of people that receives money for the purpose of making the funds or an equivalent value payable to a third party in another geographic location, whether or not in the same form. ... The telephone or phone is a telecommunications device which is used to transmit and receive sound (most commonly voice and speech) across distance. ...

When the Dow Jones Transportation Average stock market index for the NYSE was created in 1884, Western Union was one of the original eleven companies tracked. The Dow Jones Transportation Average (also called the Dow Jones Transports; DJTA) is the oldest U.S. stock market index. ... New York Stock Exchange (June 2003) The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) is one of the largest stock exchanges in the world. ... 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

In 1914 Western Union offered the first charge card for consumers; in 1923 it introduced teletypewriters to join its branches. Singing telegrams followed in 1933, intercity fax in 1935, and commercial intercity microwave communications in 1943. In 1958 it began offering Telex to customers. In 1964, Western Union initiated a transcontinental microwave beam to replace land lines. 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... A charge card is similar to a credit card, except that the charges made to it must be paid-off each month, rather than having revolving credit which carries a balance forward. ... {{year nav|1939 1923 (MCMXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar). ... A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY) is a now largely obsolete electro-mechanical typewriter which can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point through a simple electrical communications channel, often just a pair of wires. ... A singing telegram is a message, transmitted by telegram or otherwise, that is delivered by an artist in a musical form. ... Year 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... A Samsung fax machine. ... 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display full calendar). ... Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths longer than those of terahertz (THz) frequencies, but relatively short for radio waves. ... 1943 (MCMXLIII) was a common year starting on Friday (the link is to a full 1943 calendar). ... Year 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Teletype machines in World War II A teleprinter (teletypewriter, teletype or TTY for TeleTYpe/TeleTYpewriter) is a now largely obsolete electro-mechanical typewriter which can be used to communicate typed messages from point to point through a simple electrical communications channel, often just a pair of wires. ... 1964 (MCMLXIV) was a leap year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1964 calendar). ...

Western Union became the first American telecommunications corporation to maintain its own fleet of geosynchronous communication satellites, starting in 1974. The fleet of satellites, called Westar, carried communications within the Western Union company for telegram and mailgram message data to Western Union bureaus nationwide. It also handled traffic for its Telex and TWX (Telex II) services. The Westar satellites' transponders were also leased by other companies for relaying video, voice, data, and facsimile(fax) transmissions. Telecommunication involves the transmission of signals over a distance for the purpose of communication. ... Corporate redirects here. ... A geosynchronous orbit is a geocentric orbit that has the same orbital period as the sidereal rotation period of the Earth. ... U.S. military MILSTAR communications satellite A communications satellite (sometimes abbreviated to comsat) is an artificial satellite stationed in space for the purposes of telecommunications using radio at microwave frequencies. ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Westar was the name for the fleet of geosynchronous communications satellites operating in the C-band which were launched by Western Union from 1974 to 1984. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ... A mailgram is a type of telegraphic message which is transmitted electronically from the sender to a post office and then printed and delivered to the recipient via postal means, usually the next day. ... Telex can refer to more than one thing: For the communications network, see Telegraphy. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ... Telex II is the later name for the TWX teletypewriter network, which was originally founded & established by AT&T. It was later acquired from AT&T by Western Union, who renamed it as Telex II. Categories: Telecommunications history ... Westar was the name for the fleet of geosynchronous communications satellites operating in the C-band which were launched by Western Union from 1974 to 1984. ... An Earth observation satellite, ERS 2 For other uses, see Satellite (disambiguation). ... In telecommunication, the term transponder (sometimes abbreviated to XPDR or TPDR) has the following meanings: An automatic device that receives, amplifies, and retransmits a signal on a different frequency. ... Video (Latin for I see, first person singular present, indicative of videre, to see) is the technology of electronically capturing, recording, processing, storing, transmitting, and reconstructing a sequence of still images representing scenes in motion. ... Voice Message refers to a message that could be sent to a destination using voice media. ... In general, data consist of propositions that reflect reality. ... This page is a candidate to be moved to Wiktionary. ... A Samsung fax machine. ...

Due to declining profits and mounting debts, Western Union slowly began to divest itself of telecommunications-based assets starting in the early 1980s. Due to deregulation at the time, Western Union began sending money outside the country, re-inventing itself as "The fastest way to send money worldwide^SM" and expanding its agent locations internationally. The 1980s refers to the years of and between 1980 and 1989. ...

In 1986, Western Union and GTE became owners of Airfone. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... General Telephone and Electronics (GTE) was the largest of the independent US telephone companies during the days of the Bell System. ... Airfone is a brand of air-ground radiotelephone service offered by Verizon. ...

Western Union was bought by First Financial Management Corporation in 1994, which a year later merged with First Data Corporation. On January 26, 2006, First Data Corporation announced plans to spin Western Union off as an independent, publicly traded company. Western Union's focus will remain money transfers. The next day, Western Union announced that it would cease offering telegram transmission and delivery^[2], the product most associated with the company throughout its history. This was, however, not the original Western Union telegram service, but a new service of First Data under the Western Union banner; the original telegram service was discontinued after Western Union Corp.'s bankruptcy. 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated as the International Year of the Family and the International Year of the Sport and the Olympic Ideal by United Nations. ... First Data Corporation (NYSE: FDC) is a payment processing company based in Greenwood Village, Colorado. ... For the Manfred Mann album, see 2006 (album). ... First Data Corporation (NYSE: FDC) is a payment processing company based in Greenwood Village, Colorado. ...

The spinoff was completed in December and Western Union is now an independent, publicly traded company.

Western Union is also the name of a ship that worked for the same company laying telegraph cable in the Caribbean and South America. She is currently working in Key West, Florida, where she was built and launched. The Western Union is 130 feet long and weighs 91.91 tons and is currently configured as a passenger vessel.

Internet precursors

Western Union was involved in the Automatic Digital Network (AUTODIN) program. AUTODIN, a military application for communication, was first developed in the 1960s and became the precursor to the modern internet in the 1990s. The Defense Message System (DMS) replaced AUTODIN in 2000. The Automatic Digital Network (AUTODIN) is a legacy data communications service in the United States Department of Defense. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... For the band, see 1990s (band). ... The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. ...

A related innovation that came from AUTODIN was Western Union's computer based EasyLink service. This service was developed for business application. This system allowed for one of the first marketable electronic mail systems for non-government users. In addition, the system allowed the same message to be sent simultaneously to multiple recipients via email, fax, mailgram, or telex services; as well as receive messages from the integrated formats. With the service, users could also perform research utilizing its InfoLink application. EasyLink Services is now its own company.

Bidpay

As the Internet became an arena for commerce at the turn of the millennium, Western Union started its online services. Money transfers can now be sent online from an ever-growing list of countries, and cash can be picked up at the thousands of Western Union agent locations around the world.

The BidPay service was also created, letting consumers pay for auction wins at sites such as eBay; the service provided a way to pay by credit card and deliver the payment as a money order to the recipient. BidPay was renamed "Western Union Auction Payments" in 2004 before being renamed back to BidPay. BidPay ceased operations on 31 December 2005 and was purchased for USD$1.8 million in March 2006 by CyberSource Corp. who announced their intention to re-launch BidPay. Bidpay may refer to: BidPay, an internet payments system Panchatantra, a collection of fables Category: ... eBay headquarters in San Jose eBay North First Street satellite office campus (home to PayPal) eBay Inc. ... A money order is a payment order for a pre-specified amount of money. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Many online buyers are reluctant to pay via Western Union, as their transferring methods leave users open to scams. Mostly operating from Africa (especially Nigeria), scammers will attempt to get money from accounts by soliciting account numbers or names, claiming to want them for mutual security. A world map showing the continent of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most-populous continent, after Asia. ...

Other service offerings

Along with satellite telecommunications, Western Union was also quite active in other forms of telecommunication services:

• common carrier terrestrial microwave networks,
• long distance telephone service
• landline-based leased voice and data communication circuits
• cellular phone service for a very short time in the early 1980s (the phones were made by 2-way radio manufacturer E.F. Johnson Company)
• early messaging networks such as TWX, which was acquired from AT&T (the founder of the TWX network) and renamed Telex II by Western Union, and Telex.

A common carrier is an organization that transports persons or goods, and offers its services to the general public. ... Microwaves are electromagnetic waves with wavelengths longer than those of terahertz (THz) frequencies, but relatively short for radio waves. ... Long distance in telecommunications, refers to telephone calls made outside a certain area, usually characterized by an area code outside of a local call area. ... A two-way radio is simply a radio that can both transmit and receive (a transceiver). ... A two-way radio manufacturer founded by its namesake, E.F. Johnson, in Waseca, MN in the early 20th Century. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far away and grapho = write) is the long distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ... AT&T (NYSE: T) is the largest provider of both local and long distance telephone services, wireless service under the brand Cingular Wireless, and DSL Internet access in the United States. ... Telex II is the later name for the TWX teletypewriter network, which was originally founded & established by AT&T. It was later acquired from AT&T by Western Union, who renamed it as Telex II. Categories: Telecommunications history ... Telex can refer to more than one thing: For the communications network, see Telegraphy. ...

Sponsorship

Western Union was a major Jersey sponsor of the Sydney Roosters NRL team from 2002-2003. The company still sponsors the team, but not as a jersey sponsor. Around the world, Western Union sponsors numerous community events that help support the diaspora communities that use the global Money Transfer service. The Sydney Roosters (also known as The Roosters) are a professional rugby league football club based in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, Australia. ... The National Rugby League (sometimes referred to as the Telstra Premiership for sponsorship purposes) is a professional competition for rugby league clubs in Australia and New Zealand, and is Australasias primary rugby league competition. ...

The First Data Western Union Foundation donates money to worthy causes around the world. After the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the Foundation donated $1,000,000 US dollars to the relief effort. Tsunami strikes Ao Nang, Thailand. ...

End of telegrams

As of July 2006, The Western Union website showed this notice:

"Effective January 27, 2006, Western Union will discontinue all Telegram and Commercial Messaging services. We regret any inconvenience this may cause you, and we thank you for your loyal patronage. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact a customer service representative. "[1]

This ended the era of telegrams which began in 1851 with the founding of the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company, and which spanned 155 years of continuous service. Western Union reported that telegrams sent had fallen to a total of 20,000 a year, due to competition from other communication services such as email. Employees had been informed of the decision in mid-January. E-mail, or email, is short for electronic mail and is a method of composing, sending, and receiving messages over electronic communication systems. ...

Telegram service in the United States and Canada is still available, operated by International Telegram and other companies. International Telegram is a provider of international telegram service. ...

Popular money laundering tool

Western Union always advises its customers not to send money to someone that they have never met in person, especially if that person is in Nigeria. Despite its efforts in increasing customers' awareness of the issue, Western Union provides one of the most popular services for internet fraud from scammers. Western Union has been required to maintain records of pay-out locations to the criminals who launder the money but this information may only be obtained through the use of a subpoena. Often pay-out location information is useless since there are no extradition treaties with Nigeria. Hence 419 and romance scammers continue to receive funds via Western Union confident in the knowledge that money lost to Nigerian scammers through Western Union is almost always unrecoverable. Money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial transactions in order to conceal the identity, source and destination of the money in question. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... Money laundering is the practice of engaging in financial transactions in order to conceal the identity, source and destination of the money in question. ... A subpoena is a writ commanding a person to appear under penalty (from Latin). ... An advance fee fraud is a confidence trick in which the target is persuaded to advance relatively small sums of money in the hope of realizing a much larger gain. ... A romance scam essentially occurs when a stranger sweeps you off your feet(or tries to) and worms his/her way into your affections with the sole intention of laying their hands on your money/bank account or by getting you to commit financial fraud on their behalf. ...

New Security Policies and Customer Complaints

Western Union has begun blocking transactions based on suspicion of terrorist connections, as a part of the company's intimate involvement^[3] with the War on Terror. In practice, this has often meant denying service to senders who specify recipients with Arabic-sounding names.^[4] Transactions which do not involve persons with such names will sometimes be denied as well, based on criteria which the company refuses to disclose. Currently, transfers sent from the Western Union web site require telephone confirmation of the sender's identity. On occasion, the transfer will inexplicably fail. Western Union's customer service will inform the sender that the transaction "does not meet our requirements." If details are requested, no information other than the fact that their disclosure is forbidden will be given. The total cost of the transaction, however, is still charged to the sender's bank card, to be refunded after several days. Numerous customers have reported this problem.^[5] This article is becoming very long. ... The war on terrorism or war on terror (abbreviated in U.S. policy circles as GWOT for Global War on Terror) is an effort by the governments of the United States and its principal allies to destroy groups deemed to be terrorist (primarily radical Islamist organizations such as al-Qaeda... Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ...

See also

• MoneyGram - a competitor in the money transfer business
• Jay Gould - owned a controlling interest in the late 1800's

MoneyGram International, Inc. ... Jay Gould (1836-1892) Jason Gould (May 27, 1836 – December 2, 1892) was an American financier. ...

References

1. ^ Ezra Cornell: A 19th Century Life – From the Cornell University Library Archives
2. ^ Notice of the discontinuation of telegram services – From the Western Union website
3. ^ Western Union Spying Worldwide - Cryptome
4. ^ William Fisher: Where's My Money, Mohammed? – Scoop Independent News
5. ^ Ming the Mechanic: Western Union sucks - The NewsLog of Flemming Funch

External links

• Western Union corporate website
• Western Union Locations
• Company history 1851–2001