High flying Google has finally hit a rough patch on Wall Street that looks to have some staying power. Its stock price fell more than 4 percent Monday, after Barron's published an article outlining
several risks that could chop the company's market value in half. In fact, Google's overall market value has already dropped 27 percent in the last month, wiping out nearly $40 billion for its
shareholders. Shares fell $16.91, or 4.7 percent, to close at $345.70 on the Nasdaq Stock Market after peaking at $475.11 on Jan. 11. Shortly after reaching that high, Google reported fourth quarter
earnings that didn't match Wall Street's expectations, and then it alienated some by launching a censored version of its search engine in China. Now, barely three weeks later, Google is being viewed
as a one-trick pony vulnerable to competition, and carrying a dark little secret: the mounting problem of click fraud. Oh how swiftly the winds change in this fast-paced, digital world.
Read the whole story at Associated Press »
