Facebook 1Q earnings nearly triple on ad revenue boost

Earnings at social network Facebook nearly tripled while revenue was up sharply in the first quarter, beating Wall Street's expectations thanks to a whopping 82 per cent rise in advertising revenue.

It was the fourth consecutive quarter of the social network beating forecasts as it continued surge ahead in mobile advertising with nearly 80 per cent of its users accessing it on smartphones and other portable gadgets.

According to the world's biggest online social network, it earned $642 million, or 25 cents per share, in the January-March quarter, up from $219 million, or 9 cents per share, in the same period a year ago.

Adjusted earnings, excluding stock compensation expenses and other costs, stood at $885 million, or 34 cents per share, in the latest quarter.

Facebook's revenue was $2.5 billion, up 71 per cent from $1.46 billion in the year ago period.

Shares of Menlo Park, California-based Facebook were up $2.34, or 3.8 per cent, to $63.71 in extended trading following the announcement of the results. The stock was down $1.67, or 2.7 per cent, at $61.36 amid a broader market decline.

The Inquirer quoted Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg as saying, Facebook's business was strong and growing, and this quarter was a great start to 2014.

He added the company had made some long-term bets on the future while staying focused on executing and improving its core products and business. He added, the company was in a great position to continue making progress towards its mission.

According to commentators what was perhaps  more impressive than its bumper financial results was the number of active users of the social network. Facebook said it now  counted 1.28 billion monthly active users, or almost half the world's internet population, up from 1.23 billion in the fourth quarter of 2013. The company added that a billion of these now used their mobile phones to access the social network.

Facebook, in January had said it had 945 million monthly mobile active users during the fourth quarter of 2013, which was also a huge increase from 680 million in the same quarter the prior year.