Google share price slumps after poor results slip out

By Barry Collins

Posted on 18 Oct 2012 at 18:02

Trading in Google shares has been suspended after the early posting of its financial results caused its share price to crash.

The company's share price plunged from almost $760 to $687 before trading was suspended at the time of publication.

The sell-off came after the company reported below-par earnings ahead of schedule. The Securities & Exchange Commission filing was obviously posted in error, with a gap left for a quote from CEO Larry Page.

Google recorded a third-quarter profit of $2.18 billion, down from $2.73 billion for the same quarter in 2011.

Motorola is also becoming a drag on Google's results. The handset maker contributed $2.58 billion in revenue, but recorded an operating loss of $527 million - accounting for much of the difference between this and last year's profits.

There was more bad news in Google's core advertising business, with the average cost per click that advertisers paid to the company falling by 15%, largely because of the lower premiums attached to mobile advertising.

However, the number of paid clicks increased by 33% year-on-year.

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