Google CEO apologizes for releasing earnings report early

Nasdaq halted trading after Google stock fell as much as 11 percent when the company accidentally posted its third quarter earnings early. The search giant blamed its financial printer for the error.

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“I’m sorry for the scramble earlier today,” he said during an earnings call.

The search giant had planned to release its third-quarter results after Wall Street’s closing bell on Thursday. Instead, they appeared on the Securities and Exchange Commission website shortly after 12:30 p.m. ET. The press release said, “PENDING LARRY QUOTE,” which presumably refers to Google CEO Larry Page. The Wall Street Journal got a screenshot of the release:

Google’s third-quarter earnings fell short of analysts’ expectations as earnings fell 20 percent from a year earlier, reports The Wall Street Journal. As a result, its shares dropped as much as 11 percent, to $676, but regained ground to 9 percent before Nasdaq halted trading.

Hours later, the official report hit Google’s investors website, with the missing quote from Page:

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