Trouble on the Tapes

For months the computer tapes of two of Europe's biggest business machine makers have been feeding back their information in red ink. The losses of both--Italy's Olivetti and France's Machines Bull--stem at least in part from U.S. competition. Now both companies have sought to program for profits by naming new presidents.

A new Olivetti board, comprised of industrialists and bankers who stepped in to refinance the company, last week picked the first man outside the Olivetti family ever to head it. He is Bruno Visentini, 54, the vice president of Italy's huge, state-owned industrial holding company, I.R.I. (TIME, March 27). Visentini's main task is to strengthen the position of Olivetti's U.S. subsidiary, Underwood Corp., which has not kept up with its U.S. competitors. In addition, Olivetti (1963 sales: $360 million) is troubled by import restrictions in its sizable Latin American market. Visentini, a lawyer well-connected with Italy's center-left government, will also try to fight off recurrent threats of nationalization.

At Machines Bull, a group of financiers who had been called upon to save the French giant from losses and the prospect of nationalization selected Banker Roger Schulz, 44, to be boss. A director of the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas, rugged and athletic Schulz has specialized in reviving comatose companies. Bull, the Continent's largest computer maker (1962 sales: $69 million) was gored by IBM and others when it tried to expand its line of small computers by building bigger models. The previous president, Joseph Callies, left under pressure after the French government vetoed his plan to get cash from General Electric and make it a major partner. Though the government opposes U.S. "takeovers" of French companies, it has been unable so far to induce other French electronic equipment makers to bail out Bull. Last week the bankers and politicians were negotiating a complex deal to split Bull into subsidiaries, let General Electric buy a share of some of them. President Schulz flew to Manhattan to talk with the top men in G.E.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.