The company also began to develop new telegraphy-related services beyond the transmission and delivery of telegrams, launching the first stock ticker in 1866, a standardized time service in 1870 and wire money transfer in 1871. In 1866 Western Union acquired the American Telegraph Company & the United States Telegraph Company, its two main competitors, for a time gaining a virtual monopoly over the American telegraphy industry. Western Union completed the first transcontinental telegraph in 1861 and formed the Russian–American Telegraph Company in an attempt to link America to Europe, via Alaska, into Siberia, to Moscow - a project abandoned in 1867 following the successful laying of a transatlantic cable in 1866.ĭominance & new challengers (1866–1881) After the creation of the 'Six Nations' system, Western Union continued to acquire both larger & smaller telegraph companies and by 1864 had transformed from a regional monopoly into a national oligopolist with its only serious competitors being the American Telegraph Company and the United States Telegraph Company. 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. In 1856 the company merged with its competitor the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company, controlled by John James Speed, Francis Ormand Jonathan Smith and Ezra Cornell and changed its name to Western Union Telegraph Company at Cornell's insistence. Selden, Hiram Sibley, and others in 1851. The New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company was founded in Rochester, New York by Samuel L. History Founding & expansion (1851–1866) 6.3 Connection to military intelligence.6.2 Money laundering and terrorist financing.
5 Involvement in early computer networking.1.7 Public listing & international expansion (2006–present).1.6 Financial difficulties, bankruptcies & restructuring (1984–2006).1.4 Western Union International spin-off.1.3 Monopoly & decline of telegraphy (1881–1963).The company ceased its communications operations completely in 2006 and is now the second largest money transfer provider in the world. The company dominated the American telegraphy industry from the 1860s to the 1980s, 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.Īfter experiencing financial difficulties, Western Union began to move its business away from communications in the 1980s and increasingly focused on its money transfer services. The Western Union Company is an American multinational financial services company, headquartered in Denver, Colorado.įounded in 1851 as the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company in Rochester, New York, the company changed its name to the Western Union Telegraph Company in 1856 after merging with a competitor.
0 kommentar(er)
