Google's stock price plunged 9 percent and trading was suspended after the Internet giant accidently released its third-quarter results which missed the Wall Street estimates.
The earnings report had not been expected until the market closes; however, the earnings were out three hours ahead of schedule. The stock trading was closed at around 12:50 p.m. after it had fallen as much as 10.5 percent to a session low of $676. Trading was later resumed after the company released a finalized version of its earnings document at 3:20 p.m. The news of its results pulled down technology shares which had the biggest decline among 10 groups in the S&P 500.
The results indicates that Google's online advertisement business is not doing as expected and its costs associated with managing new businesses is eating its profitability.
"I am sorry for the scramble earlier today," Google CEO Larry Page, who still has not fully recovered from a mysterious throat ailment, said during a conference call with analysts.
The technology giant has earned $2.18 billion ($6.53 per share) during their quarter ending in September against a net income of $2.73 billion (8.33 per share) last year. Its revenue saw a 45 percent increase from last year to $14.1 billion.
The weak show was mainly attributed to its $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Motorola's revenue fell by 21 per cent overall during the first full quarter since the acquisition and its sales decreased to 27 percent year-on-year. Google is believed to be working on a cost cutting plan that might include a reduction of Motorola's workforce by around 20 percent or 4,000 jobs.
Google blamed its contractor RR Donnelley & Sons Co for releasing the quarterly earnings report with regulators more than three hours ahead of schedule. "We are fully engaged in an investigation to determine how this event took place and are pursuing our first obligation, which is to serve our valued customer," RR Donnelley said in a statement.
