Italian electronics and telecommunications company.
Founded by Camillo Olivetti (18681943), the firm began making typewriters in 1908. Camillo's son Adriano studied manufacturing and plant management in the U.S. in the 1920s, and as company president from 1938 made Olivetti into Europe's principal maker of business machines. The company later produced calculators, microcomputers, and copiers. In 1982 its U.S. subsidiary was purchased by Docutel Corp. and became Docutel/Olivetti Corp. In the late 1990s Olivetti sold off its money-losing computer business and remade itself as a telecommunications company with holdings in mobile and fixed-line telephones.