The details - showing third quarter profits fell 20 percent on year - were revealed three hours earlier than planned by the tech giant's financial printers.

Figures for the July to September period came in well short of Wall Street's expectations at the equivalent of 1.67 billion euros.

The company's shares fell 9 percent on the news and were suspended on the NASDAQ for two hours.

Analysts said one reason for the disappointing results is that click advertising revenue has fallen in the past year.

"It's really a combination of Google sites and Motorola which we think largely contributed to the disappointment of this afternoon," said market analyst Scott Kessler.

Google has struggled to turnaround loss-making mobile phone maker Motorola Mobility which it bought earlier this year.

The company is also fighting in the cut-throat smartphone and tablet market together with Samsung and Apple.

In total, around 15 billion euros was knocked off the company's value on Thursday.