Facebook sales top estimates on gains in mobile

SAN FRANCISCO (Feb 2): Facebook Inc.’s fourth-quarter revenue climbed more than forecast, driven by advertisers’ continued push to reach consumers on mobile phones.

The world’s largest social-media company said sales jumped 51% to US$8.81 billion ($12.5 billion), topping the US$8.51 billion average analyst projection. Monthly active users on its main social network increased 17% from a year earlier to 1.86 billion people, with 1.23 billion checking daily and 1.74 billion accessing it via their smartphones, Facebook said Wednesday in a statement.

Facebook has solidified its position as No. 2 in the market for mobile advertising, behind Alphabet Inc.’s Google. The Menlo Park, California-based company last year started selling more marketing spots and added e-commerce tools to Instagram, its photo-sharing app that now has more than 600 million users. Facebook also expanded video advertising, drawing ad dollars that might otherwise have gone to television commercials.

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