Facebook 4Q Earnings, Revenue Grow Sharply

NEW YORK – Facebook’s quarterlyearnings and revenue grew and surpassedexpectations as the companyexpanded the number of users and theamount of money it makes on mobileads. Facebook Inc. earned $523 million,or 20 cents per share, in the October-December quarter. That’s up $64 million,or 3 cents per share, a year earlier.Adjusted earnings were $780 million, or31 cents per share, in the latest quarter,ahead of analysts’ estimates by 4 cents.Revenue grew 63 percent to $2.59 billion,from $1.59 billion. Analysts, onaverage, had expected revenue of $2.35billion, according to FactSet.Facebook’s stock increased more than 7percent after the results came out.For the first time, mobile advertisingrevenue accounted for more than halfof Facebook’s total ad revenue, a signthat the company born in a desktopcomputer era is succeeding in its goal ofbeing “mobile first.” Facebook Inc.,which turns 10 years old next week, had1.23 billion monthly users worldwide atthe end of 2013. Of these, 757 millionsigned in at least once a day, up 22 percentfrom a year earlier. Monthly mobileusers stood at 945 million, up 39 percent.Daily mobile users grew 49 percentto 556 million.”It was a great endto the year for Facebook,” CEO MarkZuckerberg said in a statement.