Without the negative impact of currency fluctuations and excluding acquisitions, revenue was roughly flat. Earnings were hurt by currency changes and higher author costs. The reorganization of Random U.S. also resulted in “significant” one-time costs.

I don’t think Random House is as sick as people make it sound based on that from the article. The revenue was flat (once you take out the currency stuff), it had some one-time expenses (which are not expected to recur, obviously; else it wouldn’t be called “one-time”), and some crappy currency situation when USD fell.

I’m not surprised that their 2009 outlook isn’t great either. The currency situation is going to remain poor or become worse due to Bernanke’s love of printing press (a.k.a. printing money), and the global economic situation is not expected to improve any time soon.