Trading in Google stock was halted Thursday
after it dropped more than 9 percent in the aftermath of a badly
timed earnings release in which the Internet giant missed market
expectations.
The quarterly earnings report had been scheduled for release after
the close of trading, but Google inexplicably filed the document with
the Securities and Exchange Commission at the height of trading.
The company's results showed that profit slipped to $2.18 billion
from $2.73 billion in the same quarter a year ago, while
revenue was up to $11.33 billion below Wall Street's
expectations of $11.9 billion.
The decline in profits was attributed largely to Google's takeover
of loss-making smartphone maker Motorola earlier in the year, causing
a rise in operating expenses from $3.28 billion a year ago to
$4.81 billion in the recent quarter.
Google said that the earnings report had been filed by the
company's financial printers RR Donnelley without permission.
