Facebook reports $157 million Q2 loss

Facebook shares were down 11 per cent in after-hours trade after the company reported its first results since its public issue  in May. The results just about beat analysts' projections with second quarter revenues up 32 per cent to $1.18 billion as it reported a $157 million loss.

However, concerns remain as Facebook has not yet been able to work out how to make money from people using the site on mobile devices.

The loss came from payments to early investors, including chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

After Facebook's dismal stock market debut, which ended up with its shares plunging rather than soaring, investors had focused on these results in the hope of better news.

Analysts say there would be relief that the social network delivered a reasonably substantial rise in revenues overtaking Wall Street's forecasts.

Meanwhile, the hype surrounding the IPO has given way to more hard-headed assessment of the business prospects and analysts say it might take several more quarters of sustained revenue growth to convince the sceptics that the business was really worth $100 billion.