Facebook reports 60% surge in revenue

PanARMENIAN.Net - Social networking giant Facebook reported a 60% surge in revenue, to $2.02bn, in the third quarter, generating profits of $425m.

Revenue from advertising grew by 66% to $1.8bn, with nearly half of that coming from mobile ads.

"The strong results we achieved this quarter show that we're prepared for the next phase of our company," said Mark Zuckerberg in a statement.

Shares in the company have nearly doubled in value since July, when it first announced a big jump in its mobile advertising revenue.

The company has made a concerted push to boost its mobile offering, and now says that 874 million of the site's more than one billion users access Facebook on their phone.

Speaking during a conference call, Zuckerburg called Facebook a "mobile company" and noted more than half of people are only using Facebook from their phones. "It's a pretty incredible sign of how Facebook has evolved as a company," he said.

By growing its mobile users, the company has also been able to sell more mobile ads, a crucial metric that is widely watched by analysts.

Facebook has grown its share of the mobile ad market in the U.S. from just 9% last year to 14.9% this year, according to research firm eMarketer.

But Google is still by far the leader, accounting for close to half of all mobile ad spending in the U.S.

Revenue from mobile ads was around $880m this quarter, compared to just $150m a year earlier.

However, Facebook's user growth in the U.S. and Canada appears to have slowed dramatically. This is significant as the site earns about $4.19 for each user in the U.S. and Canada, compared to just $0.74 for users in high-growth areas such as Asia.