Facebook sales jump 38% in Q1

PanARMENIAN.Net - Facebook's sales jumped 38% in the first quarter, boosted by its growing mobile ad business. Investors are laser-focused on mobile, which Facebook has said is the key to its future success. Mobile ad sales accounted for 30% of Facebook's total ad revenue in the first quarter of the year -- up sharply from the previous two quarters and from essentially zero just a year ago, CNN reported.

Facebook began working ads into its mobile products only several quarters ago, most notably when it released a new Apple iOS app in August. That mobile ad boost has helped increase revenue, but the growth in monthly active users on Facebook's mobile site and apps is slowing. It jumped 54% over the year to 751 million, which is slightly below the fourth quarter's 57% year-over-year jump, and the 61% annual increase in the third quarter.

That growth rate will likely continue to shrink as mobile users come into parity with total users. Facebook reported that overall monthly active users jumped to 1.11 billion in the first quarter, 751 million of whom accessed Facebook on their phones and tablets.

Facebook shares were essentially flat in after-hours trading following the report.

Ad sales helped propel the social network's overall revenue to $1.5 billion in the quarter -- a solid performance in what's generally a soft quarter for ad revenue at most companies. Brands typically spend heavily to market to holiday shoppers in the fourth quarter and ease off at the beginning of the year.

Earnings rose 7% over the year to $219 million, despite being crunched by massive expenses. Costs jumped 60% over the year to $1.08 billion. Facebook executives had warned during last quarter's earnings call that the company expects expenses to rise by about half this year.