David T. Kearns, a Xerox executive since 1971, took over as CEO in 1982. The company was revived in the 1980s and 1990s, through improvement in quality design and realignment of its product line. Attempting to expand beyond copiers, in 1981 Xerox introduced a line of electronic memory typewriters, the Memorywriter, which gained 20% market share, mostly at the expense of IBM.
In 1983 Xerox bought Crum & Forster, an insurance company, and formed Xerox Financial Services (XFS) in 1984.
In 1985 Xerox sold all of its publishing subsidiaries including University Microfilms and R.R. Bowker.