Facebook continues to reap big rewards from ads placed on people’s smartphones, which now generate more than two-thirds of its revenue.
Roughly 69% of Facebook’s revenue for the quarter ended 31 December came from mobile advertising, the company said Wednesday.
Total revenue for the quarter was $3.85 billion. That was up 49% from a year earlier and beat the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.
A year ago, mobile ads accounted for just over a half of Facebook’s revenue. But as more people access the service on mobile devices, ads there have proliferated.
“We got a lot done in 2014. Our community continues to grow and we’re making progress towards connecting the world,” CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.
Net income for the quarter was $701 million, a 34% increase from a year earlier, while earnings per share came in at $0.25, up 5 cents.
On a pro forma basis, earnings per share was $0.54, beating analyst estimates of $0.48.
The company also reported a decent increase in its number of users, though the increase was greater for mobile devices. As of 31 December, Facebook’s monthly active users – people who log in at least once a month – were 1.39 billion, up 13%. But Facebook’s mobile monthly active users rose by 26%, to 1.19 billion.
However, Facebook’s fourth quarter costs jumped by 87% to $2.72 billion.
Revenue for the full year was $12.47 billion, Facebook said, up nearly 60% from 2013.
Shares of Facebook stock were trading at around $74.54 in the after market hours, down by more than 2%.
IDG News Service
Ltd
