Facebook’s revenue hits $1.6b
September 8, 2011 by admin
Filed under Choosing Lingerie
Facebook’s revenue soared to US$1.6 billion in the first half of 2011, according to a report by Reuters, as the world’s largest social network continues to expand ahead of its widely anticipated IPO.
The social networking giant posted net income of $500 million in the first half of 2011, according to “a source with knowledge of its financials.” Facebook has taken its user base to a whopping 750 million and has established itself as one of the biggest players in the display advertising world, TAKING one-third of all impressions served in the U.S. (more than Yahoo, Microsoft, Google, and AOL together).
The company founded by Mark Zuckerberg out of his dorm room in 2004 has grown into one of the internet’s most formidable firms. While its finances aren’t publicly known, information has occasionally made its way out.
Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs prepared a private share offering of Facebook to its clients, distributing some of the social network’s financial information. Those documents suggest Facebook earned $433 million on $1.2 billion in revenues during the first 9 months of 2010. While quarterly figures weren’t released, assuming Facebook’s sales were equal in every quarter, the social network made 800 million in the first two quarters of 2010. (Read Goldman Sachs Limits Facebook Share Offer To ‘Offshore’ Investors, Fears Breaking U.S. Law).
Goldman itself invested in Facebook, giving it an unofficial Wall Street-stamp of approval and a valuation of about $50 billion. Shares in Facebook trade on secondary markets where the valuation has been pushed above $80 billion. Markets expect Facebook to go public in the short-term, as its ever-rising number of shareholders puts pressure on regulators to ask management to release more financial information. The SEC requires any company with more than 500 shareholders to disclose its finances. (Read JPMorgan Starts ‘Social Media Fund’ To Invest In Twitter, Facebook, Other Public Companies).
Reuters cites sources expecting Facebook to go public in 2012. Facebook, which declined to comment, is facing increased competition from Google in the social sphere. The search-giant recently released Google+ which reportedly added more than 10 million members in its first two weeks to become the world’s fastest growing social network.
If the recent report is true, Facebook is proving that it is increasingly better at monetizing the opportunities it has made for itself, as Zuckerberg prepares his company to dispute the Google’s claim to the Internet’s number one spot.
