Information AboutWestern Union |
|
Western Union has a number of divisions, with products such as person-to-person Money Transfer, Money Orders, and commercial services. As of December 5 , 2005 the company has 250,000 Western Union agent locations in over 195 countries and territories. Reported revenues top $3 billion annually. HISTORY Western Union was founded in Rochester, New York in 1851 as The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company. After a series of acquisitions of competing companies by Jeptha Wade , 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 , to signify the joining of Telegraph lines from coast to coast. 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. 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. As the Telephone replaced the telegraph, money transfer would become its primary business. 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. In 1914 Western Union offered the first Charge Card for consumers; in 1923 it introduced Teletypewriter s to join its branches. Singing Telegram s 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. 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 Satellite s' Transponders were also leased by other companies for relaying Video , Voice , Data , and Facsimile ( Fax ) transmissions. 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 worldwideSM" and expanding its agent locations internationally. In 1986 , Western Union and GTE became owners of Airfone . 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, 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. INTERNET PRECURSORS Western Union was involved in the Automatic Digital Network or 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 or DMS replaced AUTODIN in 2000. 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. Many online buyers are reluctant to pay via Western Union, as their transferring methods leave users open to scams. Mostly operating from Eastern Europe, scammers will attempt to get money from accounts by soliciting account numbers or names, claiming to want them for mutual security. Western Union sold Bidpay in February 2006. OTHER SERVICE OFFERINGS Along with satellite telecommunications, Western Union was also quite active in other forms of telecommunication services:
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 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. END OF TELEGRAMS As of January 2006, The Western Union website now shows 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. " {Link without Title} This ends the era of telegrams which began in 1851 with the founding of The New York And Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company , which spanned 155 years of continuous service. Western Union reports 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. POPULAR MONEY LAUNDERING TOOL Unfortunately, Western Union provides one of the most popular services for internet fraud from Nigerian and Philippine 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. Money lost to Nigerian or Philippine scammers through Western Union is almost always unrecoverable. SEE ALSO
REFERENCES |