Shares of Google Inc fell as much as 19 per cent on Tuesday after the web search company widely missed Wall Street earnings targets due to relatively weak British results which led to a high tax rate.

Earnings, excluding one-time items, were US$1.54 ($2.27) per share, below the consensus expectations of US$1.77, according to Reuters Estimates. Google also missed its own tax rate target.

That ended Google's uninterrupted streak since its August 2004 public offering of topping Wall Street quarterly profit expectations by at least 10 per cent.

Google shares were trading at US$379.00 in late after hours trade, down about 12 per cent, slicing roughly US$15 billion from a market capitalisation that was about US$126 billion early in the week.

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