SURPRISE, SURPRISE: Google lost control of its own data and released its third-quarter earnings more than three hours before the report was supposed to go out. The embarrassing mix-up looked even worse once investors realized the Internet search leader's results had fallen well short of analyst projections.

WHAT WENT WRONG: The company blamed a printer for prematurely filing a copy of its third-quarter report with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

FINANCIAL ALBATROSS: Most of Google Inc.'s third-quarter headaches were concentrated in Motorola Mobility, the troubled cellphone maker that the company bought for $12.4 billion in May.