SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook shares soared to a new high on word that the social network’s quarterly profit and user numbers jumped as it thrives in a world gone mobile.
Net income leapt to US$791 million during the three months ended June 30 in a 138 per cent increase from the US$333 million made during the same period a year earlier, the world’s biggest social network said.
“We had a good second quarter,” said Facebook co-founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.
“Our community has continued to grow, and we see a lot of opportunity ahead as we connect the rest of the world.” Revenue in the quarter surged to US$2.91 billion, with approximately 62 per cent of that money coming from ads served up on mobile devices such as smartphones or tablet computers.
Ad revenues overall were up 67 per cent from a year ago to US$2.68 billion.
Cashing in on the trend of Facebook members increasingly using mobile devices to connect to the social network has been seen by analysts as vital to its success.
The number of people who visited the online social network at least once a month climbed to 1.32 billion in a 14 per cent rise from the same quarter last year, according to Facebook.
The number of active users on mobile devices rose to 1.07 billion.
Facebook shares jumped more than five per cent to US$75.05 in after-market trades that touched record highs for the company that made its market debut in 2012 at US$38.
“The numbers look good; this is a very strong quarter for them,” said analyst Rob Enderle of Enderle Group in Silicon Valley.
“They look more like a real company now than a dot-com.
Tactically, they are doing well.” Facebook could face some push-back from advertisers over how well ads result in people actually spending money on what is being promoted, the analyst noted.
Silicon Valley-based Facebook had a 5.8 per cent share of global digital advertising revenue in 2013 and that share is expected to near eight percent by the end of this year, according to industry tracker eMarketer.
Worldwide spending on digital advertising was predicted to hit US$140.2 billion this year.
Facebook will likely lay claim to 22.3 per cent of the money spent this year on advertising on mobile devices, with Google’s share expected to remain about 50 per cent, according to eMarketer.
“Our momentum remains especially strong on mobile,” Zuckerberg said in an earnings call.
Financial analysts were told to expect Facebook expenses to rise as the company invests heavily in people, products and infrastructure to fulfill a long-term vision of connecting everyone on the planet. — AFP