Google Blames Early Earnings Release on RR Donnelley

By Gilbert Falso :: 1:27 PM

Google’s early SEC filing release is being blamed on publisher RR Donnelley, who prepares and prints the report for the company.

The company has released a statement placing the blame on Donnelley. “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.”

A recap:

Trading of shares in the search giant Google have been halted after an SEC report was inadvertently released this morning, with an unfinished filing that left an open quote for Google CEO Larry Paige.

The top line of the report said “PENDING LARRY QUOTE,” which suggests that the filing was released early, without being fully reviewed or completed.

The company reported third-quarter earnings of $9.03, well below the $10.65 that analysts at Thomson Reuters were expecting. Shares were down nearly 10% when trading was halted, dropping from $754 to $687.

It was widely expected that though Google would release their earnings report today, that release would not occur until after the stock market’s closing bell.