Google shares fell over 9 percent on Thursday morning before trading was halted, Reuters reported, following the search giant’s filing of a lower-than-expected quarterly earnings report with the S.E.C., which was posted online around noon, far earlier than the anticipated time, after the market’s close. The move appears to have been an accident, The Wall Street Journal reports.
Google reported net income of $2.18 billion down 20 percent from $2.73 billion a year earlier, or total earnings of $9.03 per share, major undershot to the $10.63 per share earnings expected by analysts. Google’s $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola caused a major hit to the company: An operating loss of $151 million.