Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB) stock jumped 11% on Thursday after the social media giant released its 2018 fourth–quarter results to investors.
About Facebook Inc
Founded in 2004, Facebook is the world’s largest social media technology business, with names like Instagram, WhatsApp and Oculus also part of its stable of brands. Over 2 billion people use Facebook once per month, with Facebook’s core platform boasting more than 1.5 billion users. Across all of its major brands, including Messenger, 2.7 billion people now use Facebook products.
4Q 2018 Results
In a public filing, Facebook shocked investors and Wall Street analysts alike, reporting a 9% year over year increase in daily active users to 1.52 billion.
Facebook Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he was particularly pleased with the group’s ability to engage and grow users.
“Our community and business continue to grow,” Zuckerberg said. “We’ve fundamentally changed how we run our company to focus on the biggest social issues, and we’re investing more to build new and inspiring ways for people to connect.”
“There are now 2.7 billion people using Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or Messenger each month, and more than 2 billion people who use at least one of our services every day.” – Zuckerberg
On the financial side, Facebook reported a 38% year-over-year increase in advertising revenue with 93% of fourth-quarter revenue coming from mobile devices. Total revenue was 37% higher at $US55.6 billion.
Despite increasing its headcount by a hefty 42%, thanks to its ongoing investment in security and quality control, Facebook achieved 39% over-year-year growth in profit – ahead of Wall Street analyst expectations.
Along with addressing the myriad of social and security issues, Zuckerberg says building new experiences for users will be the focus of Facebook going forward.
“We ended 2018 with more than 30,000 people working on safety and security — up from 10,000 people a couple of years ago,” Zuckerberg said via his Facebook page.
“Our second priority for 2019 is that as we make progress on these social issues, we also need to deliver new experiences that meaningfully improve people’s lives.”
Facebook stock closed 11% higher on Thursday at $166.69.
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