Having discharged a "substantial number" of temps and contract workers earlier this month, yesterday Google announced plans to cease selling adds for newspapers as of February 28th.

Already-running ad campaigns will continue to run through March 31st.

Tomorrow Google is slated to make its earnings announcement. Analysts worry that even if the search and ad giant meets industry expectations, skittish investors may still sell shares en masse.

Such behavior has been seen in the past, particularly with Google, which in its early years beat estimates by significant margins. In 2Q08, for example, the company announced revenues of $5.37 billion, a 39 percent increase compared to 2Q07, and three percent growth over 1Q08. Its stock fell 8%, or $40, that day.

In Q3, and despite evidence of a weakening economy, Google announced $5.54 billion — a 31% increase over Q3 last year. It maintained optimism that the company would survive whatever storms weathered the sector. At market close following that news, shares surged 10.5%, or $36.97.

Despite recent news that Google holds 63.5% of the US search market, the past few weeks betrayed signs of distress at the Googleplex. In addition to this month's labor cuts, Google also ceased development and service for a number of previously-free offerings, including Google Video, Dodgeball, Jaiku, and Notebooks.