Google Q3 2012 earnings released prematurely, revenues and operating income down

Google has released its earnings report for the third quarter of the year. For the three month period, Google pulled in $2.78 billion in operating income, 19% of its $14.1 billion in revenues. This is down on same quarter last year, where It had $3.08 billion in operating income. Motorola contributed $2.58 billion in revenues for the quarter, but still operated at a loss of $527 million. The bulk of those losses, $505 million, were attributed to the mobile side of Motorola.

Google's EPS (Earnings Per Share) were just $6.53, down from $8.33 in the same period last year. Google's stock slid nearly 10% on the earnings report, triggering a halt in trading. Hopefully we'll know more in the coming days as to the reasons behind its lackluster earnings.

The initial earnings report was a bit interesting, as the SEC filing was missing a quote from Google CEO Larry Page, and marked as "PENDING LARRY QUOTE." According to The Wall Street Journal, Google's earnings were indeed released ahead of schedule to the SEC without its knowledge, which triggered the quick slide in stock price. As Google's official statement reads:

"Earlier this morning RR Donnelley, the financial printer, informed us that they had filed our draft 8-K earnings statement without authorization. We have ceased trading on NASDAQ while we work to finalize the document. Once it's finalized we will release our earnings, resume trading on Nasdaq and hold our earnings call as normal."

This is quite a blunder for a company of Google's size, and it's clear that the protocols for filing its earnings were not followed. According to Google, earnings were not to be released at that time.

Update: Google has filed their official Q3 2012 earnings report directly, with a proper quote from CEO Larry Page:

“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. I am also really excited about the progress we’re making creating a beautifully simple, intuitive Google experience across all devices.”

Google's official statement confirms the earnings numbers of the previous (premature) filing with the SEC, and will initiate trading of its stock for the rest of the day. The official investor earnings call is still scheduled for 1:30 PT / 4:30 ET.

We'll bring you more analysis of the earnings numbers later today.

Source: Google; SEC; WSJ