Olivetti (Italy)

Olivetti is Italy's biggest manufacturer of IT and office systems. During the the 1970s and early 1980s, it established itself as a significant global rival to IBM, but later lost its way and was overtaken by more nimble competitors. The company was reinvented at the end of the 1990s by corporate raider Roberto Colaninno. He virtually rebuilt Olivetti as a telecoms business and surprised just about everyone by launching and then winning a hostile bid for national telephone company Telecom Italia - four times bigger than Olivetti - in the summer of 1999. Yet following two years in which the group struggled under massive debts, Colaninno finally admitted defeat in 2001, allowing a takeover by tiremaker Pirelli, backed by the wealthy Benetton family. A subsequent restructuring saw Olivetti become a subsidiary instead of the parent of Telecom Italia. Click here to access the Adbrands profile (subscribers only); or subscribe to Adbrands.net here. Adbrands Company Profiles provide a detailed analysis of the history and current operations of leading advertisers, agencies and brands worldwide, and include a critical summary which identifies key strengths and weaknesses. Adbrands Account Assignments tracks account management for the world's leading brands and companies, including details of which advertising agency handles which accounts in which countries for major markets.

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The Adbrands Company Profile of Olivetti summarises the company's history and current operations and also contains the following website links:

Olivetti website

Telecom Italia

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