by Paolo Bricco
Fifty years ago, Olivetti debuted the Programma 101 at the New York World's Fair. The Wall Street Journal's Oct. 15, 1965 edition was titled: "Desk-Top Size Computer is Being Sold by Olivetti For First Time in US."
In 1964, Olivetti was almost bankrupt. A consortium of financial firms, coordinated by the leading banker of 20th-century Italy, Enrico Cuccia, intervened to stabilize the company: the restructuring was focused on preserving Olivetti's American subsidiary (just before the death of founder Adriano Olivetti, the company had acquired an old U.S. manufacturer called Underwood), and on its divesting electronic assets. Adriano had started building up that business years before, but it never became financially viable.
