Random Merriment It’s year-end letter time, as Random House CEO Peter Olson announces the company is “well positioned for fiscal year 2005 to exceed both our sales and our operating results for 2004.” Probably the most important news in the dispatch is the celebration of “our lowest-ever overall return percentage rate.” (Spokesman Stuart Applebaum says they aren’t ready to announce the returns number, but says “We’re beyond the Holy Grail of under 30 percent.”) We’ve spoken often about back-end operating efficiencies as the true key to profitability and performance at the big houses, and Olson once again gives the “highest […]