Google will resume trading at 3:20 PM EDT, reports Reuters. Google accidentally posted its Q3 2012 earnings earlier than expected today, thanks to a leaked SEC document. The company blamed financial printer RR Donnelley for the mistake. Now the official earnings report has been released, and nothing much has changed – besides the addition of Larry’s quote, that is. The document showed Google reporting $14.10 billion in revenue and EPS of $6.53, which missed most analyst predictions – they were expecting $14.7 billion in revenue. The stock quickly began to tank, going down around 9% by the time trading was halted at 12:50 pm EDT.
As a refresher, in the initial document, revenues were reported as being up 45 percent compared with Q3 2011, but GAAP net income was down 20 percent year-over-year to $2.18 billion ($6.53 per share), as compared with $2.73 billion in Q3 2011 ($8.33 per share). The decline was due to rising costs and decreased ad prices, for the most part. Google said that in the third quarter, the average cost advertisers paid Google per click fell 15% year-over-year, and it was also down 3% from the preceding quarter. Traffic acquisition costs increased to $2.7 billion in Q3 2012 versus $2.21 billion in Q23 2011.
Motorola’s impact was also being felt: of the $317 million in reported amortization expenses, $182 million was a result of the Motorola acquisition, Google said. ($109 million of that was allocated to Google and $73 million was allocated to Motorola). Motorola’s hardware business brought in $2.58 billion in revenue ($1.78 billion from mobile and $797 million from home). Its operating loss was $527 million.
Anything New?
Because the SEC document had been released early, even including a number of editorial comments (e.g. “PENDING LARRY QUOTE”), we took a second look to see what may have changed. But it appears to be exactly the same numbers as before, with the only addition being a quote from Larry Page, Google CEO.
In case you’re curious, here’s what Larry had to say:
“We had a strong quarter. Revenue was up 45 percent year-on-year, and, at just fourteen years old, we cleared our first $14 billion revenue quarter,” said Larry Page, CEO of Google. “I am also really excited about the progress we’re making creating a beautifully simple, intuitive Google experience across all devices.”
Kind of funny, that “all devices” business considering Google Maps just got booted off iOS, right?
JUST FOURTEEN YEARS OLD!
But really, not much to the quote, although some writers (who shall remain nameless) had a little fun with the “just fourteen years old” bit. One suggested headline: “Exclusive: Google Is A Teenager, Erratic Profits Due To Teenage Crisis!”
But my personal favorite was: “Google Refuses To Come Downstairs For Dinner, Cites Missed Expectations.”
Some people here could totally work for The Onion, I swear.