Facebook reaches 1.11 billion users - makes 1st quater profit

Facebook’s profit in the first quarter of this year climbed as it used its grip on people’s online social lives to challenge Google and Apple for revenue from mobile ads and apps.

Mobile advertising helped Facebook boost its first-quarter profit 58 per cent from a year ago to $217 million, and to lift revenues past market forecasts, according to earnings results released Wednesday.

Facebook said its monthly active users rose 23 per cent from a year ago to 1.11 billion, including 751 million who accessed the network on mobile devices.

Mobile ads accounted for 30 per cent of advertising revenue for the quarter.

The profit was just below market forecasts, but revenues were better than expected, rising 38 percent from a year ago to $1.46 billion.
“We’ve made a lot of progress in the first few months of the year,” said Facebook chief executive and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg.

“We have seen strong growth and engagement across our community and launched several exciting products.”Company highlights during the first three months of the year included the launch of “Facebook Home” software, which puts the social network center stage on Android-powered smartphones, and the launch of a set of new ad products.

Facebook’s share of the overall US online advertising market is expected to rise to 6.5 per cent this year from 5.9 percent in 2012, according to industry tracker eMarketer.