Trading in Google shares was halted today on Nasdaq after poor earnings figures were released-apparently prematurely.
The search firm blamed financial print service provider RR Donnelley for releasing its quarterly earnings figures a few hours early.The results had not been expected until after the closing bell.RR Donnelley shares also fell 6 per cent on the news.
Following the announcement,which gave earnings of$14.10bn(£8.74bn)in revenue,and earnings per share at$6.53(£4.05),Google shares fell about 8 per cent almost immediately,declining to 13 per cent below their starting point shortly afterwards.
The release detailed Q3 earnings for 2012 at$2.74bn(£1.7bn),or 19 per cent of revenues,which compares unfavourably with a figure of$3.06bn(31 per cent of revenues),for Q3 2011.
Net income was also down around 20 per cent on a year-on-year basis,coming in at$2.18bn(£1.35bn)this quarter.
Analysts believe that the poor figures may be laid at the door of Motorola,now owned by Google,which reported an operating loss of$527m(£327m),it's Mobile Mobility division being responsible for the vast majority of that fall.
Google acquired the mobile phone company for$12.5bn(£7.7bn)in August 2011 as it looked to leverage Motorola's handset-making expertise for its Android platform,while also acquiring thousands of its patents.In August 2012 it was announced that 4,000 jobs would be lost at the phone maker.
