There are two particular reasons for this. The refusal from Google to share search date with the U.S. government and investor worries about the search engine giant's upcoming Q4 2005 earnings report.
Google's market value has plummeted by 14 percent during the last week, wiping out $20 billion in shareholder wealth.More info at Yahoo News.
The selloff began Wednesday after Google's biggest rival, Yahoo Inc., released fourth-quarter earnings that fell below analysts' estimates.
Yahoo's shortfall raised concerns that Google's earnings report, due out Jan. 31, won't be as rosy as Wall Street anticipated earlier this month, when the company's shares surged as high as $475.11.