Facebook sees mobile ads soar

Facebook was once mired in the mobile-advertising doldrums. That was so 2012.

The world’s largest social network yesterday reported first-quarter profit and revenue that blew past analysts’ estimates. Mobile accounted for 59% of advertising revenue, up from almost nothing at the time of Facebook’s initial public offering in May 2012.

Yet Facebook executives also said that spending will increase for the rest of this year and initiatives such as Instagram and video advertising won’t immediately contribute materially to revenue. That tempered the company’s stock performance, with shares rising less than 1% in New York.

Revenue in the first quarter rose 72% to $2.5bn (€1.8bn), beating the average analyst estimate of $2.36bn, according to Bloomberg. Net income almost tripled to $642m from $219m a year earlier.

The results meant chief financial officer David Ebersman, who announced his resignation yesterday, is leaving on a high note after helping the company rebound from the disastrous initial public offering to build up to a market capitalisation of about $160bn.

Facebook has 1.28bn monthly active users, or almost half the world’s internet population, up from 1.23bn last quarter. The company has more than 1bn monthly active users on mobile, with more than half of daily active users only connecting on mobile.

“Facebook’s business is strong and growing,” chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said yesterday. “It has been a busy quarter and a strong one.”