Google Stock Fell Again Friday As YouTube Ad Boycott Continues

Shares of Google fell 4.5% Friday, continuing a multi-day downward trend. At one point Friday, the stock was down almost 9%. The drop came as a growing number of major advertisers boycotted Google and YouTube, after it was revealed their ads have appeared alongside videos promoting terrorism and offensive content.

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AT&T, Verizon, Johnson & Johnson, GSK and Enterprise Holdings are among the U.S. companies who said they will stop all ad spending on Google except for search. That includes no ads on YouTube and the two million sites that are part of Google's ad network.

In the UK, more than 250 organizations including the British government, Toyota and McDonald’s have stopped advertising on YouTube, according to The Times, whose investigation triggered the global boycott. The ad boycott could cost Google hundreds of millions of dollars. When asked if Google can ensure that ads won't be placed with offensive content, co-founder Eric Schmidt said: "We can't guarantee it but we can get pretty close."