Western Union provides a huge worldwide network of Agents in more than 245,000 around the world in over 200 countries. They are one of the leading brands and one of the most reliable and efficient money transfer service providers. Other competitors include: Xoom, PayPal, Moneygramme and E-gold. There are advantages and disadvantages of using all of them but Western Unions services and reputation has stood the test of time.

Their revenue is over $4billion and they allow anyone with sufficient identification to send money around the world almost instantaneoulsy, usually within ten minutes.

A few noteworthy achievements in Western Union's rapid development include:

1851 - The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company was founded which later became Western Union.

1861 - Western Union an inaugural transcontinental telegraph line facilitating fast coast to coast communications was completed for the very first time.

1871 - Western Union's famous Money Transfer service first became available.

1933 - Choral singing telegrams were made available.

1964 - Microwave radio beam system introduced.

1989 - Flat-rate money transfers became available through a quick collect service.

1998 - Western Union Money Transfer service expands to over 50,000 Agent locations internationally.

2000 - Westernunion starts providing online money transfer services.

2001 - Western Union opens its 150th Agent location in it's 150th year.

2006 - Western Union sends it's last telegram as it fully evolves completely into a financial services company transferring money worldwide.

Western Union also provides a sponsorship program which aims to give back to communities and areas in which they carry out business. They do this by supporting non-profit organisations and events both in the United States and Abroad.

They place particular importance on the following criteria: Education, health and human services all aimed at helping people making improvements in their standard of living. This is a recent update on their contributions to commmunities from around the world so far:

"Since its inception in December 2000, the Foundation has given more than $40 million USD to more than 1,525 charitable programs globally. We help the Asia Foundation educate and empower migrant women in Jintang County, China. We give homeless children in Mumbai, India, a new life through the Vatsalya Foundation. 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. We also donated to the survivors of the earthquakes in Indonesia and Pakistan in 2005 and 2006.

The Western Union Foundation is truly local regardless of city, country or even continent."

So besides being a highly profitable and successful business they also put their success to good use. Western Union are now to this day continuing there expansion around the world and also the array of services on offer.