Number of employees11,500 (2017)WebsiteThe Western Union Company is an American worldwide financial services and communications. Its headquarters is in, although the postal designation of nearby is used in its mailing address. Up until it discontinued the service in 2006, Western Union was globally the best-known American company in the business of exchanging.Western Union has several divisions, with products such as person-to-person money transfer, business payments, and commercial services. They offered standard 'Cablegrams', as well as Candygrams, Dollygrams, and Melodygrams.Western Union, as an industrialized, dominated the American industry in the late 19th century. It was the first communications empire and set a pattern for American-style communications businesses as they are known today. Contents.History 19th century In 1851, the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company was organized in by, and others, with the goal of creating one great system with unified and efficient operations. Meanwhile, had bought back one of his bankrupt companies and renamed it the New York & Western Union Telegraph Company.
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Originally fierce competitors, by 1856 both groups were finally convinced that consolidation was their only alternative for progress. The merged company was named the Western Union Telegraph Company at Cornell's insistence, and Western Union was born.Western Union bought out smaller companies rapidly, and by 1860 its lines reached from the to the, and from the to the. In 1861 it opened the. In 1865 it formed the in an attempt to link America to Europe, into, to (This project was abandoned in 1867). The company enjoyed phenomenal growth during the next few years.
Under the leadership of presidents and its capitalization rose from $385,700 in 1858 to $41 million in 1876. However it was top-heavy with stock issues, and faced growing competition from several firms, especially the —itself taken over by financier in 1875.: 196–201 In 1881 Gould took control of Western Union. Old logo of Western Union in 1969-1990When the stock market index for the (NYSE) was created in 1884, Western Union was one of the original eleven all-American companies tracked. By 1900, Western Union operated a million miles of telegraph lines and two international. 20th century In 1913, under indictment of the, sold its shares in Western Union due to the threat of antitrust action.The company continued to grow, acquiring more than 500 smaller competitors. Its monopoly power was almost complete in 1943 when it bought, its chief rival. Former headquarters of WU, located at 60 Hudson, New York, New York, United States, in the early and middle 20th centuryIn 1914, Western Union offered the first for consumers; in 1923 it introduced to join its branches.
Followed in 1933, intercity in 1935, and commercial intercity communications in 1943. In 1958, it began offering service 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 featured in a commercial with the rotund. On the 1970s version of, hosted by, Western Union Candygrams (with a cash message inside) were offered to contestants as a prize during a deal. In 1964, Western Union initiated a transcontinental microwave system to replace land lines.During World War II, families with sons in military service dreaded the Western Union 'boy on his bicycle' to arrive at their home with a telegram from the or the. The message began: The Secretary of War (for soldiers and airmen) or Secretary of Navy (for sailors and marines), regrets to inform you that name, rank, and serial number of the man in the military service was killed in action (or missing in action).
Advertisement for Western Union 'Tourate' telegram service, 1939Western Union became the first American to maintain its own fleet of, starting in 1974. The fleet of satellites, called, carried communications within the Western Union company for telegram and message data to Western Union bureaus nationwide. It also handled traffic for its and services.
The Westar ' were also leased by other companies for relaying, and facsimile (fax) transmissions.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 divested that year to American Securities. In 1983, American Securities sold WUI to which renamed it to MCI International and moved its headquarters from to.In the 1970s, WUI installed and leased to the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) dedicated 50 high-speed telecommunications facilities between the continental U.S.
And Hawaii, Germany and the United Kingdom to provide a test bed for the DOD's (ARPA). This test bed provided ARPA with a proof of concept for the technology of which later became the Internet.In 1976, Western Union partnered with.In 1981, Western Union purchased a fifty percent interest in. It sold Airfone to in 1986 for $39 million in cash.Because of declining profits and mounting debts, Western Union slowly began to divest itself of telecommunications-based assets starting in the early 1980s. Because of deregulation at the time, Western Union began sending money outside the country, re-inventing itself as 'The fastest way to send money worldwide' and expanding its agent locations internationally. Example of a Western Union Telegram, 1959. Note that the message text is a continuous strip of paper which was cut and glued to the telegram form.In 1987, Investor acquired control of Western Union through an outside of chapter 11 process that was a complex leveraged recapitalization. The transaction was backed by a total of $900 million in underwritten by 's group at as part of an exchange offer.
LeBow installed Robert J. Amman as President and CEO who led a complete strategic, operational and balance sheet restructuring of the company over the subsequent 6 years.Mr. Amman executed a strategy of redirecting Western Union from being an asset-based provider of communications services, with a money transfer business as a large but less important part of the business, into being a provider of consumer-based. In so doing, Mr.
Amman ran the company as two separate companies. One business consisted of the money transfer business, which was funded and operated to take advantage of the significant growth opportunity. The second unit consisted of all the non-strategic communications assets such as the analog voice network, satellite business and undersea cable assets. In the 3-year period through 1990 Mr. Amman was supported by, also installed by Mr. 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 in 1991, just in time for that entity to seek bankruptcy protection as part of Mr. Amman's strategy to eliminate the overleveraged balance sheet while continuing to grow the money transfer business.
The name change was taken to shield the Western Union name from being dragged through the proceedings (and the bad PR that would cause). Under the day to day leadership of Robert J.
Amman and the backing of, the company's value increased dramatically through its years operating under chapter 11.Following various restructurings that included negotiations with Carl Icahn who became a large bond holder, Mr. Amman engineered the sale of New Valley in a bankruptcy auction to First Financial Management Corporation in 1994 for $1.2 billion where he became vice chairman, and a year later merged with in a $6 billion transaction. 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 sold off after New Valley Corporation's bankruptcy and now operates as.The spin off was completed September 29, 2006 and Western Union became an independent, publicly traded company again.Involvement in early computer networking Western Union telegrams were transmitted through a message switching system.Early versions were manual telegraph systems.
Later systems using were semi-automatic, using punched to receive, store, and retransmit messages., Western Union's last paper tape based switching system (1948–1976), was fully automatic, with automatic routing.Western Union was a prime contractor in the (AUTODIN) program. AUTODIN, a military application for communication, was first developed in the 1960s and became the precursor to the modern in the 1990s. The (DMS) replaced AUTODIN in 2000.AUTODIN, originally named 'ComLogNet', was a highly reliable service that operated at 99.99% availability, using mechanical readers and tab machines to send and receive data over. During the peak operation of AUTODIN, the United States portion of the network handled twenty million messages a month.
Western Union failed in its attempts to engineer a replacement (AUTODIN II), leading to the development of an acceptable by (the developer of the ) which became the foundation of today's Internet. AUTODIN service ceased in 2000, years after it had become obsolete.A related innovation that came from AUTODIN was Western Union's computer based EasyLink service. This system allowed for one of the first marketable 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 allowing messages to be sent from the integrated formats. With the service, users could also perform research utilizing its InfoLink application. EasyLink Services International Corporation is now a separate company.End of telegrams As of February 2006, the Western Union website showed this notice:'Effective 2006-01-27, 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.' This ended the era of telegrams which began in 1851 with the founding of the New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company, and which spanned 155 years of continuous service. Western Union reported that telegrams sent had fallen to a total of 20,000 a year, because of competition from other communication services such as email. Employees were informed of the decision in mid-January.Telegram service in the United States continues to be available through. Acquisitions In May 2009, Western Union announced its intention to acquire Canada-based from Peter Gustavson.
The deal closed in September 2009, with Western Union purchasing Custom House for 371 million. Its acquisition led the company to be re-branded as Western Union Business Solutions. Custom House and its subsidiary were sold to in 2015 and operate under its brand.In January 2011, Western Union acquired 100% of Angelo Costa, a group active in money transfer and services to immigrants. Angelo Costa has a network of 7,500 points of sale in various European countries. The agreement was signed for US$200 million.In July 2011, Western Union acquired 's Global Business Payments division for 606 million.In October 2011, Western Union completed the acquisition of Finint S.r.l., one of Western Union's leading money transfer network agents in Europe, counting more than 10,000 subagent locations across Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom.In May 2015, rumors emerged over a proposed merger of Western Union and its closest competitor, at a time when both companies’ revenue were declining. However, Western Union denied this was the case. In January 2017, MoneyGram was instead acquired unsuccessfully by, ’s financial technology firm, for $880 million.
Specific services. A Western Union outlet in, Online Western Union's website, westernunion.com, allows users to send and receive funds to others, pay bills, locate Western Union locations, track transfers, and to purchase Western Union NetSpend gift cards. The website also attempts to spread fraud awareness using videos, articles, and quizzes to do so.As of September 2017, the domain westernunion.com ranks globally as the 4,319th most visited website, according to. BidPay As the Internet became an arena for commerce at the turn of the millennium, Western Union started its online services. BidPay was renamed 'Western Union Auction Payments' in 2004 before being renamed back to BidPay. BidPay ceased operations on December 31, 2005, and was purchased for US$1.8 million in March 2006 by CyberSource Corp.
Who announced their intention to re-launch BidPay. BidPay was later discontinued by CyberSource effective December 31, 2007. Western Union Mobile In October 2007, Western Union announced plans to introduce a mobile money-transfer service with the, a global trade association representing more than 700 mobile operators in 218 countries and covering 2.5 billion mobile subscribers.The proliferation of mobile phones in developed and developing economies provides a widely accessible consumer device capable of delivering mobile financial services ranging from text notifications associated with Western Union cash delivery services to phone-based remittance options.
Western Union's mobile money transfer service offering will connect its core money-transfer platform to m-bank or m-wallet platforms provided by mobile operators and/or locally regulated financial institutions.Western Union Connect The company launched the Western Union Connect service in October 2015, following partnership agreements with major instant messaging apps. The partnership allows users of WeChat to send up to $100 to, the and 200 other countries, while Viber users can send up to $100 for $3.99 plus, with that fixed fee increasing the more money is sent up a limit of $499. Sending and receiving funds In order to send funds, a sender goes to a Western Union office and presents funds (plus fees) for 'Next Day' or 'Money in Minutes' service. The sender provides his or her name and address, the recipient's name, and a designated payment destination.
Western Union then provides the sender a 10-digit Money Transfer Control Number (MTCN) that the sender must provide to the recipient. The recipient then proceeds to a Western Union agent office in the designated payment location, presents the 10-digit MTCN, and a photo ID.
Money is then paid out to the recipient. Previously, in some locations, if a recipient lacks identification documents, the sender and receiver can set up a pre-arranged password, however Western Union has since removed this feature and you must have a valid form of ID in order to receive the money. Funds are paid out in cash, although if payment exceeds a local maximum or cash on hand, a check is issued. Alternatively, a sender may forward funds to a recipient by using Western Union's website or by phone. In some countries, the recipient doesn’t need the MTCN if one has sufficient identification.Transfer fees Fees vary based on the sender and receiver's location, type of transfer, and whether the money is sent from a counter location or by the website.Past services.
Last updated on August 7th, 2018 at 05:57 amThe Western Union Company is an American financial service and communications company. If you need to find out the Western Union Hours Of Operation, Holiday Hours & Western Union Locations Near Me Must read this post till the end.Western Union hours Regular business hours What Time Does Western Union Open and close?
Western Union store hours todayWestern Union Opening HoursWestern Union Closing HoursMonday8:00 am9:00 pmTuesday8:00 am9:00 pmWednesday8:00 am9:00 pmThursday8:00 am9:00 pmFriday8:00 am9:00 pmWestern Union Hours on Saturday8:00 am9:00 pmWestern Union Hours on Sunday8:00 am9:00 pmWestern Union holiday hours. This is the holiday hours are included in the Western Union. Thanksgiving – November 23 Thursday Open. Christmas Eve – December 24 Sunday Open. Christmas Day – December 25 Monday Closed.
New Year’s Eve – December 31 Sunday Open. New Year’s Day – January 1 Monday OpenWhat Time Does Western Union Close?Is Western Union Closed On Holidays?All Western Union stores are CLOSED only on following public holidays. Thanksgiving Day.
Christmas Day. Easter SundayIs Western Union Open On Christmas?. Christmas Day – ClosedIs Western Union Open On? New Years Day – OpenMemorial Day – OpenMartin Luther King Day – OpenFather’s Day – OpenPresidents day – OpenIndependence Day – OpenValentine’s Day – OpenLabor Day – OpenMardi Gras Fat Tuesday – OpenColumbus Day – OpenSt. Patricks Day – OpenVeterans Day – OpenTax Day – OpenThanksgiving Day – closedGood Friday -OpenBlack Friday – OpenEaster Sunday – closedMothers Day – Open. Western Union in Lahaina, MT 59808Location:2527 N Reserve St,Missoula, MT 59808, USAPhone: +1 406-543-1163Regular store hoursMonday – FridayHours: 8AM–9PMWeekends store hoursSaturdayHours: 8AM–9PMSundayHours: 8AM–9PMWestern Union near mePlease, search Western Union Near ME locations from the map below. If you find your nearby Western Union location, click on the map shown below and nearest Western Union store location around you will automatically pop up on your map.
Also use this tool to find Western Union near me.You can also get the Western Union Near Me Now through Embed Map / Food Lion Store Locator. If you use Food Lion store locator to find the Western Union Locations. Just enter your areas zip code & find Western Union Near My Location.Western Union Black Friday Locations & Store HoursGet ready for Black Friday shopping 2018 by finding the Western Union store locations nearest you. Check out Black Friday store hours, scope out the best parking spots and check the store out ahead of time to get a feel for the layout.
If you are traveling for your Thanksgiving celebrations and have asked yourself “Is there going to be a Western Union near me?” our handy can help.Western Union Special Event Hours. There are several events hosted by your local store. You will need to contact your local store or the customer service department for additional details relating to the special event.Western Union Products. Funds Transfer. Gold Card.
Money Tracking. Money Transfer. Prepaid Card.
Quick Collect. Telegraphic TransferHopefully, We helped you to get some genuine records for Western Union Hours information.Got some questions? Or some suggestions? That’s why we’ve got a comments section on this blog! You can feel free to leave a comment or two down below and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible!