Western Union

This article is about the financial services company. For the military alliance in existence between 1948 and 1954, see Western Union (alliance).
For other uses, see Western Union (disambiguation).

The Western Union Company
Company typePublic
IndustryFinancial services
FoundedApril 8, 1851; 173 years ago (1851-04-08)[1] in Rochester, New York, U.S.
HeadquartersDenver, Colorado, U.S.
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Jeffrey A. Joerres
(chairman)
Devin McGranahan
(president and CEO)
ServicesWire transfers
Money orders
Money transfers
Bill pay
Transfer tracking
Price estimation
RevenueDecrease US$4.36 billion (2023[2]
Decrease US$817.5 million (2023)[2]
Decrease US$626 million (2023)[2]
Total assetsDecrease US$8.199 billion (2023)[2]
Number of employees
9,000 (2018)
Websitewesternunion.com
Western Union Telegraph Building, lithograph

The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services corporation headquartered in Denver, Colorado.

Founded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York,[3] the company changed its name to the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1856 after merging with several other telegraph companies.[4] It dominated the American telegraphy industry from the 1860s to the 1980s,[5] pioneering technology such as telex and developing a range of telegraph-related services, including wire money transfer, in addition to its core business of transmitting and delivering telegram messages.

After experiencing financial difficulties, it began to move its business away from communications in the 1980s and increasingly focused on its money-transfer services. It ceased its communications operations completely in 2006,[6][7] at which time The New York Times described it as "the world's largest money-transfer business" and added that the company would remain as such due to the large number of immigrants wiring money home.[8]

From the perspective of the history of technology, Western Union notably completed the first transcontinental telegraph in 1861, being a part of U.S. industry's investments into developing American communications between the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean. The first messages went to then President of the U.S. Abraham Lincoln.[9]

  1. ^ "Our Vision | Western Union". corporate.westernunion.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2020. Retrieved August 24, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c d "2018 Western Union revenues decline but transactions rise in FY 2023". February 7, 2024.
  3. ^ "Western Union Corporation | American company".
  4. ^ "Western Union".
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference History was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ "Our Rich History". Western Union. Archived from the original on August 9, 2011. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  7. ^ "Western Union Sends Its Last Telegram". NPR. February 2006. Retrieved March 12, 2015.
  8. ^ Eric Dash (January 27, 2006). "Western Union, Growing Faster Than Its Parent, Is to Be Spun Off". New York Times. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference milestones was invoked but never defined (see the help page).