(Reuters) - Google Inc stunned Wall Street on Thursday with a significant miss on both revenue andearnings, wiping 9 percent off the market value of the Internet search and advertising leader.
The company, which recently overtook Microsoft Corp to become the second-largest U.S. technology company by capitalization, surprised investors by releasing its results ahead of the market close, perhaps inadvertently.
Google, which has been struggling to turn around a loss-making Motorola Mobility it bought for $12.5 billion, reported a 20 percent dive in net income to $2.18 billion. Excluding certain items, it earned $9.03 a share, vastly underperforming the $10.65 analysts had expected, on average.
It reported net revenue - excluding traffic acquisition costs - of $11.3 billion for the third quarter, below Wall Street's expectations for about $11.9 billion.
The surprise announcement, which had been expected after the market close, helped push its shares down 9 percent to $687.30.
