Facebook almost doubles earnings on rising ad revenue
Facebook, the world's biggest social network, has recorded another increase in 3rd quarter earnings as it continues its acquisition spree.
The company made $US806 million in the period thanks to increased advertising revenue.
The figure is almost double the $US425 million it made in the same period a year ago.
Revenue jumped 59 per cent to $US3.2 billion when compared to the same time a year ago and is expected to rise by 47 per cent in the December quarter year-on-year.
Most of Facebook's revenue comes from advertising, and about two-thirds of that comes from ads made specifically for mobile phones, which is up from half a year ago.
Facebook says the average price it received per ad increased 274 per cent when compared to the third quarter a year ago.
Growing numbers of eye balls are helping drive the increased unit prices of ads.
Over the three months to September, Facebook recorded 1.35 billion monthly users up from 1.32 billion in the June quarter and 64 per cent of those people use the service on a daily basis.
In what may come as further competition to struggling rival Twitter, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook's focus is on allowing users to generate more public content, which will be shared with everyone rather than just their friends.
"So we're looking at a few different areas, video is a very big priority, news is a very big priority, because a lot of people want to share that on Facebook already," he told investors over the phone.
"And enabling public figures, whether they're celebrities or athletes or actors or politicians or leaders in different kinds of communities to get on Facebook and use the platform to distribute the content that they want."
The jump in profit and revenue came with a warning, that the company is intent on continued spending.
It said expenses will rise 55 per cent to 75 per cent as the company invests in its latest purchases, including WhatsApp and Oculus.
Facebook has for the first time revealed how its $US22 billion acquisition WhatsApp is performing.
It lost over $230 million in the first half of this year and currently has 600 million users.
Mark Zuckerberg wants to increase the user base to at least a billion.
"For us, products really don't get that interesting to turn into businesses until they have about one billion people using them," he said.
Shares in Facebook are up nearly 47 per cent this year and closed at $US88.77 a share on Wall Street.
