Google Inc.'s GOOG -0.92% quarterly earnings report hit Wall Street more than three hours early on Thursday due to a glitch. The bigger glitch was what the Internet giant's results actually showed.

 

 Shares of Google plunged after the company's third-quarter results missed expectations of strong growth, and inadvertently were released well before the market's close.

 

Among the litany of issues, the Internet search giant's profits slid 20% from a year earlier to $2.18 billion, or $6.53 a share. Revenue rose 45% to $14.1 billion, thanks to the incorporation of Google's new Motorola hardware unit.

But revenue excluding Motorola slowed for the fourth consecutive quarter, dipping to a growth rate of 19% from rates of more than 20% for the past few quarters. At the same time, Motorola also revealed a bigger-than-expected operating loss.