Western Union history

In 1857 Western Union participated in the 'Treaty of Six Nations', an attempt by six of the largest telegraph firms to create a system of regional telegraphy monopolies with a shared network of main lines.

The company expanded through purchasing smaller companies until its lines ranged from the Mississippi River to the Ohio River in 1860.

By 1861 it had completed the first transcontinental telegraph line, uniting the Union and providing rapid communication during the Civil War.

After Western Union moved its headquarters from Rochester to New York City in 1866, it introduced stock tickers as a method to speed New York Stock Exchange quotes to brokerage firms.

Looking for a way to connect North America to Europe by Telegraph, Western Union also sponsored an expedition to survey a route across Russian-owned Alaska and Siberia. As a result of their negotiating for land rights with the Russian government, Western Union helped broker the sale of Alaska to the United States on March 30, 1867.

Time was not yet standardized across the country, so in 1870 Western Union developed its own time service.

Starting in February 1871, Western Union’s network grew exponentially, allowing customers to send money between New York, Chicago and Boston using the Western Union money transfer services.

The nation's tallest building in 1877, built by Western Union, had a time ball at the top, which dropped at noon on a signal telegraphed from the United States Naval Observatory.

The company made a brief foray into the telephone field but lost a legal battle with Bell Telephone in 1879 and thereafter concentrated solely on telegraphy.

Financier Jay Gould orchestrated a merger of the Atlantic and Pacific Telegraph Company with Western Union in 1881, giving him a controlling share of the merged company.

Generally acknowledged by the public as the most reliable regulation of time, the official start of Standard Railway Time was signaled in 1883 from the descent of the Western Union time ball.

Gradually, Western Union absorbed more than 500 telegraph companies throughout the nation, growing so much by 1884 that it was included in the original 11 stocks tracked in the first Dow-Jones Average.

By 1900, Western Union operated a million miles of telegraph lines and two international undersea cables.

AT&T gained control of Western Union in 1909, acquiring a 30% stake in the company.

In 1920, the company introduced the Telex network, a communication system that would allow users to exchange and print telegraphs using automated machines.

In 1923, Western Union introduced teletypewriters, which enabled companies to communicate with their branch offices.

A little more than a decade later, in 1935, Western Union introduced the first public facsimile service, connecting Buffalo, New York, and New York City.

With the 1937 Samuel F.B. Morse invention of the telegraph already delivered to the world, a new company was on its way to transforming the world of communications forever.

Midway through World War II, in 1943, Western Union introduced the first commercial microwave system to connect one city with another city.

Western Union acquired its only major competitor in the American telegraphy sector Postal Telegraph, Inc. in 1945, effectively giving the company monopoly power over the industry.

In 1958, Western Union began offering telex services to customers in New York City.

In honor of Valentine's Day 1959, Western Union introduced the Candygram, a box of chocolates accompanying a telegram that was featured in a commercial with the rotund Don Wilson.

Direct international telex services commenced in the summer of 1960, with limited service to London and Paris.

In 1963, Western Union organized its international cable system properties and its right-of-way for connecting international telegraph lines into a separate company called Western Union International (WUI), which it sold that year to American Securities.

In 1964, the company unveiled its transcontinental microwave radio beam system.

Western Union purchased the TWX system from AT&T in January 1969, the only major competitor to its own telex network.

Mailgram messages began in 1970, becoming very popular for social and commercial use due to overnight delivery.

Western Union’s Broadband and Mailgram services made it possible to send voicemails and emails by 1971.

The operation of the first domestic satellite communication system, Westar, was launched in 1974.

In 1981, Western Union purchased a 50% interest in Airfone.

In 1982, less than a decade after launching Westar 1, Western Union became the first company with five satellites in orbit.

In 1984, the problems related to overextending itself became manifest, as Western Union found itself suffering from a severe liquidity crisis.

In 1981, Western Union purchased a 50% interest in Airfone. It sold Airfone to GTE in 1986 for $39 million in cash.

The restructuring was completed in 1987 when investor Bennett S. LeBow acquired control of Western Union through an outside of chapter 11 process that was a complex leveraged recapitalization.

In the face of rapidly changing technology, the Western Union Telegraph Co. was reorganized in 1988 as the Western Union Corp. to handle money transfers and related services.

In 1989, they made paying bills easier by enabling customers to use Western Union to pay for auto loans, mortgages and other bills from thousands of businesses.

In the 3-year period through 1990 Amman was supported by Robert A. Schriesheim, also installed by LeBow, as a special advisor who oversaw the divestiture of the four non-strategic telecommunications assets for about $280 million.

The official name of the corporation was changed to New Valley Corporation in 1991, as part of the company's move to seek bankruptcy protection to eliminate the firm's overleveraged balance sheet while continuing to grow the money transfer business.

In 1992, the company began the first consumer instant money-transfer service between the United States and Russia.

At roughly the same time, the company introduced electronic funds transfer in Africa, entering Ghana in 1993 and expanding into South Africa, Ethiopia, Zambia, Senegal, Kenya, Nigeria, Uganda, and Eritrea during the subsequent two years.

New Life As a Subsidiary Company Beginning in 1994

In 1995, First Financial merged with First Data Corporation in a $6 billion transaction.

Consequently, the company strengthened its ties with Elektra at the beginning of 1996, signing a 10-year agreement with the retailer.

2000: Westernunion.com is launched.

We've generated nearly $1.5 million to help survivors of Hurricane Katrina in the United States, and nearly $2 million in immediate relief and for rebuilding to help the survivors of the 2004 tsunami.

On January 26, 2006, First Data announced its intention to spin off Western Union into independent publicly-traded financial services company focused on money transfers through a tax-free spin-off to First Data shareholders.

In May 2009, Western Union announced its plan to acquire Canada-based Custom House from Peter Gustavson.

In January 2011, Western Union acquired Angelo Costa, a group active in money transfer and services to immigrants.

In May 2015, rumors emerged over a proposed merger of Western Union and competitor MoneyGram, at a time when both companies’ revenue were declining.

In January 2017, Ant Financial, Alibaba’s financial technology firm instead unsuccessfully attempted to acquire MoneyGram for $880 million, but this was blocked by the United States government citing national security concerns.

In 2018, they introduced the newest generation of Western Union Scholars: 173 students from 64 countries who received a scholarship to pursue their careers and complete their post-graduate education.

In November 2020, Western Union acquired 15% stake in the digital payment unit of Saudi Arabia's STC Group for $200 million.