Facebook mobile users determine revenue growth in this quarter

Facebook total revenue rose by 52 per cent thanks to a leap in mobile ad sales, with the company recording more than 1 billion users on mobile every day in the recent weeks. Facebook’s mobile app and a push into live video brought in new advertisers and made the existing ones to spend more.

Facebook generated $5.38 billion in first-quarter revenue, up from $3.54 billion during the same period a year earlier while the analysts had forecast $5.26 billion with the advertising revenue at $5.2 billion and over 80 per cent generated from mobile.

Facebook now has 1.65 billion people using it each month and 1.09 billion each day which is up 16% compared to last year. Globally, people spend more than 50 minutes a day using Facebook, Instagram and Messenger and send about 60 billion messages every day between Messenger and WhatsApp which is almost three times as many messages as SMS handled at its peak.

The company plans to create a new class of non-voting shares, which would be given as a dividend to existing shareholders known as C share and will allow Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg to maintain 60 percent of voting power while still giving away large amounts of stock.

Mr. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan announced they would give away 99% of their wealth prior to the announcement of the C share so it was not quite a surprise. On Wednesday he said, “While helping to connect the world will always be the most important thing I do, there are more global challenges that I feel a responsibility to help solve — like helping to cure all diseases by the end of this century, upgrading our education system so it’s personalized for each student, and protecting our environment from climate change. That’s why Priscilla and I created the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and committed to give 99 percent of our Facebook shares during our lives to advance human potential and promote equality.”

“Today, Facebook’s board of directors is announcing a proposal to create a new class of stock that will allow us to achieve both goals. I’ll be able to keep founder control of Facebook so we can continue to build for the long term, and Priscilla and I will be able to give our money to fund important work sooner. Right now, there are amazing scientists, educators and doctors around the world doing incredible work. We want to help them make a bigger difference today, not 30 or 40 years down the road,” he added.