Friday, October 19, 2012
Timing, Timing
Timing might not be everything but it is important. Just ask Google whose earnings release was filed three hours too early yesterday. There was no excuse for the mistake, and Google's provider, R.R. Donnelley, might be looking for a new client. Google lost billions in equity value in minutes. There is no way to know whether it would have declined as much if the release was dropped at the right time, but at least there would have been less panic. There had to be multiple human errors for the release to hit the wire incomplete as it was. It should never have been in a queue for transmission in the first place. Someone wasn't paying attention or was in a hurry. Almost certainly Donnelley will change its release procedures as a result of this cock-up. Meanwhile, Google gets to pick up the pieces. And, as for a make-good, how do you compensate a firm for a $22 billion loss?
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