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Olivetti history
Olivetti company history timeline
Adriano è in piedi a destra. (1908)Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
Incorporated: 1908 as Ing.
Prima macchina per scrivere firmata Olivetti. (1911) by Camillo OlivettiFondazione Adriano Olivetti
In 1911 he exhibited the first Italian typewriter, the Olivetti M1, at the Turin Universal Exposition.
Manifesto pubblicitario della M1 disegnato da Teodoro Wolf Ferrari. (1912/1912) by Teodoro Wolf FerrariFondazione Adriano Olivetti
Dipendenti Olivetti all'uscita dalla fabbrica. (1913/1913)Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
In August 1914, Camillo warned his workers that the company had no more money.
Interno fabbrica Olivetti. (1914)Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
Interno della Fabbrica di Mattoni Rossi (1916)Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
Ritratto della famiglia Olivetti intorno al 1918. (1918/1918)Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
Domenico Burzio, al centro, con Prelle e Rey. (1920/1920)Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
As the company added new models to its line--the M20 in 1920 and M40 ten years later--it opened sales offices in six foreign countries, originating Olivetti's consistently international approach to business.
Nevertheless, after graduation in 1924, he joined the company for a short while.
Adriano Olivetti immediately found himself in a context of reformist and liberal ideas: he graduated in industrial chemical engineering at the Politecnico of Turin in 1924 and immediately began working as a worker in the family business.
In 1925 Olivetti dispatched his son Adriano Olivetti to study modern manufacturing techniques and plant management in the United States.
The company began building housing for its workers in 1926, and made an effort to create a corporate environment designed as a haven for its employees.
In 1928 Camillo Olivetti's son Adriano had opened the company's first advertising office, which soon employed some of Europe's leading artists to communicate Olivetti's commitment to aesthetics as well as efficiency.
On 22nd January 1929, the Hispano Olivetti Company was established.
Manifesto Hispano Olivetti (1929/1929)Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
During Olivetti's first 20 years, Italy suffered the effects of World War I, uncontrolled inflation, political instability, and finally the crash and Great Depression of 1929.
Olivetti went public in 1932, initially capitalized at L 13 million and managed to maintain its profitability through the worst years of the Depression.
Olivetti, for the first time, sold half of the typewriters used in Italy in 1933.
An engineer, modernist, businessman, but most of all a humanist, Adriano Olivetti became president of his father’s company in 1938.
Camillo Olivetti (1940)Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
Camillo Olivetti con la moglie Luisa. (1942)Fondazione Adriano Olivetti
Following the armistice of 8th September 1943, he was forced to leave his home in Ivrea.
Adriano Olivetti was forced to flee the country shortly after his father's death in 1943; when he returned at war's end, he was able to pick up the pieces quickly and join the postwar economic boom.
It took an architect-designer, Marcello Nizzoli, to create the portable typewriter Letter 22 in 1949.
He created spaces within the company specifically designed for children and then, in 1957, the children of employees were vaccinated against polio, long before the mandatory vaccine.
In 1959, in addition to its line of typewriters, adding machines, teleprinters, and office furniture, Olivetti unveiled the Elea 9003, Italy's first computer.
But the utopia at the factory and in Italy at large began withering away even before Adriano's death in 1960. [Based on documents provided by Olivetti Research, Ltd.]
The company employed some 40,000 people, less than half of whom worked in Italy, in 1960, and its capital had reached L 40 billion.
Per approfondire:Bruno Caizzi, "Camillo e Adriano Olivetti", UTET, 1962; Laura Curino, Gabriele Vacis, "Camillo Olivetti.
Olivetti found itself in need of outside capital and management, and in 1964 it was rescued by a consortium of Italian banks and industrial concerns.
Most significantly, the company continued to produce smaller computers, and by 1965 was selling both minicomputers and an early version of the desktop micro.
Olivetti entered into a joint venture with Sharp Corp. of Japan in 1982 to produce together high-speed copiers and other office machines.
In 1983 a quarter of Olivetti’s corporate stock was purchased by American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T) in an arrangement that made Olivetti a major distributor of AT&T products in Europe.
1983: Company enters into a computer alliance with AT & T, following the introduction of the M24, an IBM-compatible personal computer.
AT & T sold the Olivetti machines as fast as it could get them, distributing some 200,000 units in 1986 alone, while Olivetti produced more modest but acceptable sales figures with the AT & T minis.
Profits continued to fall nevertheless, to a 1988 low of L 356 billion, as Olivetti's stock price and market share both took a beating in the tightening computer race.
De Benedetti took decisive action in the beginning of 1989.
Much of the company's difficulties still stemmed from its troubled PC business, which lost its main partner in 1989 when the alliance with AT & T ended.
Although it was little noted at the time, the seeds of Olivetti's revival lay in the 1989 formation of Omnitel, the company's first foray into telecommunications.
1991: Olivetti posts its first loss in 13 years, resulting from troubled computer operations.
Further problems came in 1993 when Olivetti came under investigation as part of the nationwide crackdown on corruption.
Specializing in the burgeoning cellular phone market, Omnitel did not become operational until late 1995 following its successful bid for a license early that same year--a license purchased for a hefty US$500 million.
Under pressure from foreign investors clamoring for change, De Benedetti resigned as chairman in late August 1996 although he remained a powerful figure through his stake in the company of about 14.5 percent.
Although it faced stiff competition from the state-owned Telecom Italia Mobile, Omnitel saw its subscriber base increase rapidly after launch, reaching 713,000 by the end of 1996.
Under Colaninno's leadership, Olivetti launched a sweeping reorganization, highlighted by the April 1997 sale of the PC business to U.K. venture capitalist firm Centenary Corporation.
1997: Company exits the PC business; telecom operations are placed under a new holding company, owned jointly by Olivetti and Mannesmann.
Another key development came in March 1998 when Wang Laboratories Inc. (later Wang Global) acquired Olivetti's computer services business for about US$430 million, with Olivetti emerging from the deal with a 16 percent stake in Wang Global.
Other, smaller divestments were also made, leading Olivetti to be primarily a telecommunications firm by the end of 1998.
In 1999 Olivetti & C. SpA acquired 55 percent of the company.
Tecnost had been a maker of automation systems and gambling machines, but these operations were sold to Olivetti in early February 2000.
The merger between the two companies was finalized in 2003.
In 2018, UNESCO declared Ivrea a World Heritage Site.
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Olivetti competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NCR | 1884 | $2.8B | 36,000 | 70 |
| Xerox | 1906 | $6.2B | 24,700 | 706 |
| Dell | 1984 | $95.6B | 165,000 | 163 |
| HP | 1939 | $53.6B | 53,000 | 570 |
| NVIDIA | 1993 | $130.5B | 18,100 | 1,300 |
| Adobe | 1982 | $21.5B | 11,847 | 1,494 |
| Lexmark | 1991 | $3.7B | 9,000 | 4 |
| Delphax Technologies,Inc | - | - | 376 | - |
| Computers Unlimited | 1978 | $1.3M | 1 | - |
| PAR Technology | 1968 | $282.9M | 1,541 | 15 |
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