Ahead of the Bell: Google falls on ad pricing

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Internet search engine Google Inc. fell in premarket trading Friday after it revealed that it got less money for each ad in the fourth quarter.

The stock was down $49.46, or 7.7 percent, at $590.11 per share in trading ahead of the market opening. The shares haven't been below $600 in regular trading since Dec. 1.

Investors had expected that the surge of online holiday shopping in the U.S. would let Google charge more for its ads. Instead, the average price fell by 8 percent from the same time in 2010.

The results weren't enough to make analysts change their minds about Google.

Analyst Youssef Squali said the numbers weren't as bad as they …