Weak Dollar Pulls Down Random and Bertelsmann; Direct Group NA on the Block The weak dollar “and a slowdown in consumer spending in North America” took their toll on Bertelsmann as a whole and Random House and the Direct Group in particular as the company reported results for fiscal 2007 this morning. Companywide sales fell 2.8 percent to 18.8 billion euros and operating EBIT (their current preferred measure of income) fell 3 percent to 1.811 billion euros. The drop at Random House was even larger, with sales of 1.837 billion down 5.6 percent from a year ago, and operating EBIT […]