Google’s Miss ‘A Surprise’ to WPP CEO Sorrell

Google 's disastrous miss on earnings in its latest quarterly report came as a surprise to many on Thursday, including the CEO of one of its largest clients, advertising and marketing firm WPP .

On "Fast Money , " Martin Sorrell said that Google's business had appeared robust from his point of view.

"I guess it is a surprise, " he said. "We certainly have had a very strong year so far with Google in, not just search, but display, video, social and last but not least, mobile has been growing a bit. But obviously they've had some challenges post the Motorola acquisition."

During a recent strategy meeting at Google's Mountain View, Calif., headquarters, Sorrell said that the company seemed to be doing well.

"They were in very bullish form, " he said. "Things sounded as though they were going very well, and certainly we thought so from our numbers.

"We spent last year about $1.6 billion with them. This year, it'll be well over $2 billion, so it is somewhat of a surprise, but maybe it's to do with the reorganization and bringing together of Motorola."

WPP's clients include more than half of the Fortune 500.

Sorrell cited sentiment of weaker economic activity last month as a possible cause for the slowdown, as well a desire to see a resolution to the "fiscal cliff, " a series of automatic federal spending cuts that would take effect in January.

"Certainly there's a feeling that September wasn't a great month generally for our clients and for markets. I'm not just talking about the advertising market. That obviously has some knock on to our industry and the media industry, " he said.

Trader disclosure: On Oct. 18, 2012, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Stephanie Link is long AAPL; Stephanie Link is long JPM; Stephanie Link is long SBUX; Stephanie Link is long VALE; Stephanie Link is long DG; Stephanie Link is long LRCX; Stephanie Link is long EBAY; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in JPM; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in SBUX; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in FB; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in MSFT; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in AMZN; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in VZ; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in RGP; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in MHP; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in FRX; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in CIE; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in BTU; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in ACI; Jon Najarian is long call spreads in ANR; Jon Najarian is long STSI; Jon Najarian is long GLUU; Jon Najarian is long CME; Jon Najarian is long CBOE; Baker Avenue is long HYG; Baker Avenue is long IWM; Baker Avenue is long MDY; Baker Avenue is long F; Baker Avenue is long HAL; Baker Avenue is long KOL; Baker Avenue is long NFLX; Baker Avenue is long BK; Baker Avenue is long MS; Baker Avenue is long AAPL; Baker Avenue is long WFC; Stephen Weiss is long QCOM; Stephen Weiss is long SWFS; Stephen Weiss is short AAPL PUTS.

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