Facebook beats targets with 61pc boost in second-quarter revenue
Second-quarter take of US$2.91b is driven by social media giant's mobile advertising business
Facebook's fast-growing mobile advertising business helped drive a 61 per cent increase in revenue during the second quarter, beating Wall Street's financial targets and sending shares to a record high.
The world's No1 internet social network said it saw increased interest from both advertisers and users during the second quarter, while the company's profit margins expanded.
Facebook now counts 1.5 million advertising customers and the company's ad business saw strong growth across all of its geographic regions, chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg said.
I don’t think anyone was expecting this level of profitability
"We're seeing our existing advertisers spend more and we're seeing new people come on to the platform," Sandberg said.
Investors bid up shares of Facebook past US$75 in after-hours trading on Wednesday. The share gains gave the ffirm a valuation of about US$190 billion, putting it on par with IBM.
"It might be more expensive from a market cap perspective, but I don't think anyone was expecting this level of profitability," JMP Securities analyst Ronald Josey said.
Facebook's operating margin expanded to 48 per cent of revenue in the second quarter, up from 31 per cent in the year-ago period. Overall revenue of US$2.91 billion beat the average expectation of US$2.81 billion.