By Stephen Schenck | October 18, 2012 3:10 PM
We just talked a little earlier today about Nokia’s most recent financial filing, detailing its third quarter earnings. It’s that time of year when we’ll be seeing this info from many companies in the smartphone business, but the news doesn’t always go over so well. Google finds itself in a bit of a sticky situation, where its own quarterly statement was unintentionally released prematurely, and the information contained within has led to a drop in its stock price.
It’s not like Google’s not still making a ton of money; in Q3 2012, it reports $14.1 billion in actual revenue, with its net take adding up to $2.18 billion. The problem is that the net income is below what might have been expected; over the same period last year, Google netted $2.73 billion, and that was only out of $9.72 billion gross income. Google may be taking in more money, but it’s ultimately keeping a smaller share of it.
When the market got this info, it responded by driving Google’s share price down some $40. Realizing what was going on, Google halted trading for the time being, until it officially releases these figures and subsequently holds its earnings call with investors. Google blames its financial printer, RR Donnelley, for releasing the incomplete documents early.
