Facebook’s Q3 2012 earnings beat market expectations slightly, resulting the single largest one-day jump in its stock price after the company went public earlier this year.
The social networking company said that it now has 1.01 billion users on its network and had earned $1.26 billion in revenue this past quarter, about a 32% increase over Q2 and almost 100% increase over the same time last year. Facebook also said that $150 million--more than 10% of revenue--came from mobile ads.
Facebook’s stock rallied on Tuesday breaching the $20 mark for the first time in two weeks, and then again on Wednesday to over $23, posting a single-day gain of almost 20%.
While the company posted a net loss of $59 million this quarter, compared to a profit of $227 million the same time last year, investors nevertheless seemed positive on back of the news about mobile ads.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized this point early on in the earnings call, saying, “I want to dispel this myth that Facebook can’t make money on mobile.” Facebook stock had been under pressure recently with investors worried that a burgeoning mobile use of the application would lead to less revenues for Facebook.
Nevertheless, questions remain about Facebook’s core competency and ability to make revenue off its large user base. Its close partner, gaming company Zynga, announced that it was laying off about 5% of its workforce and shutting down its Boston office in light of poor game results and decreasing revenues.
