Google stock price at $4,488?

Did the Google (Stock Code: GOOG) stock really trade yesterday at $4,488.24?

Philippine major daily GMANews.tv reported last night (see screenshot of online article below) that the stock price of the number one search engine in the world reached $4,488.24 — a big increase considering that Google’s price recently hovers within the $500 range only.

Without a doubt, that is a typo. LOL. The correct figure should be $488.24 and not $4,488.24.

What a huge difference a minor typo can make. Hehe.

Until lunchtime today, the incorrect information is still posted in the GMANews.tv website.

The article was a syndicated story from Associated Press (AP) but the GMA News guys should at least have checked whether the posted information was correct.

Anyway, the real story is about investors being disappointed in Google’s 2nd quarter performance.

Analysts expected Google’s earnings to be $4.74 per share but the company recorded $1.25 billion net income or $3.92 per share. If not for costs incurred for employee stock compensation, Google said it would have earned $4.63 per share, still short of analysts’ expectations.

To increase the overall advertising income of the company, Google is experimenting and implementing new ways to encourage user clicks on Adsense ads. Recently it retired its Referrals program and has also started using various ad fonts such as Times New Roman and Comic Sans.

A few publishers experienced an increase in Adsense income in the past months but whether the changes will ultimately boost Google’s earnings remains to be seen.