Google profits disappoint, shares fall

Google shares lost 10% value overnight after reporting lower than expected fourth-quarter profits to Wall Street.

While revenues were up 82% to just over £200 million, operating costs and taxes were also up sharply.

It is the first time the company has disappointed Wall Street since floating on the stock markets.

However, it remains certain that extensive expectation has hyped the value of Google stock.

Although warned over a year ago that Google would not always make targets, the stock price has rocketed from $80/share when first sold, to over $430/share before last night’s Q4 earnings were reported.

It remains to be seen how investors will deal with the fact that they have almost certainly bought into a stock bubble.