30 October 2013 Last updated at 16:45 ET

Facebook revenue surges 60% on strong ad sales


Facebook's share price has climbed to record highs in recent weeks

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Social networking giant Facebook reported a 60% surge in revenue, to $2.02bn (£1.26bn), in the third quarter, generating profits of $425m.

Revenue from advertising grew by 66% to $1.8bn, with nearly half of that coming from mobile ads.

"The strong results we achieved this quarter show that we're prepared for the next phase of our company," said Mark Zuckerberg in a statement.

Facebook's shares surged 15% in after hours trading.

The stock recently hit an all time high of $54 a share, after trading below the price of its stock market debut in 2012 for several months.

Facebook Inc.

LAST UPDATED AT 30 OCT 2013, 16:00 ET
price change %
49.01 --0.39 --0.78

Mobile pushThe company has made a concerted push to boost its mobile offering, and now says that 874 million of the site's more than one billion users access Facebook on their phone.

By growing its mobile users, the company has also been able to sell more mobile ads, a crucial metric that is widely watched by analysts.
Facebook has grown its share of the mobile ad market in the US from just 9% last year to 14.9% this year, according to research firm eMarketer.

Google is still by far the leader, accounting for close to half of all mobile ad spending in the US.

Revenue from mobile ads was around $880m this quarter, compared to just $150m a year earlier.

However, Facebook's user growth in the US and Canada appears to have slowed dramatically.

This is significant as the site earns about $4.19 for each user in the US and Canada, compared to just $0.74 for users in high-growth areas such as Asia.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24751441