Facebook's Fourth Quarter Profit Rose by 128% to $3.57 billion

By Vishal Goel, | February 04, 2017

Oculus VR and the tech giant Facebook were sued on Thursday by Techno View IP Inc, a Newport Beach and California-based technology licensing firm for infringing a 3D imaging patent.  (YouTube)

Oculus VR and the tech giant Facebook were sued on Thursday by Techno View IP Inc, a Newport Beach and California-based technology licensing firm for infringing a 3D imaging patent. (YouTube)

The monthly active users on Facebook increased 17 percent from last year to 1.86 billion people, with 1.23 billion checking daily and 1.74 billion accessing it via their smartphones

Social media company Facebook's fourth quarter profits rose by 128 percent to $3.57 billion compared to a year-earlier profit of $1.56 billion. In the quarter ended December, the revenue of the tech giant rose by 51 percent to $8.81 billion.

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Facebook Inc.'s revenue climbed more than forecast, thanks to advertisers' continued push to reach consumers on mobile phones.

The monthly active users on the main social network increased 17 percent from last year to 1.86 billion people, with 1.23 billion checking daily and 1.74 billion accessing it via their smartphones, Facebook said in a statement. The company has solidified its second position in the market of mobile advertising, following Alphabet Inc.'s Google.

The California-based company also started selling more marketing spots last year and added e-commerce tools to Instagram, its photo-sharing app which now reportedly has more than 600 million users. Facebook also expanded on video advertising, drawing ad money that might otherwise have gone to television commercials.

Brian Wieser, an analyst at Pivotal Research Group, said that Facebook and Google are the two foundational elements to all digital advertising. "They're just so big in terms of how much time people spend on the platform, and no advertisers' goals need go unmet if they're using Facebook."

Additionally, mobile advertising made up about 84 percent of the total ad revenue in the quarter, said Facebook. As social media's influence grows, the users have also started to hold them, especially Facebook, more accountable for its role in society.

Around the U.S. presidential election last year, the company faced an uproar over the use of its platform to spread fake news. Earlier in 2016 as well, Facebook had to combat claims that it was biased against conservatives. The events of the last year "reinforced the importance of connecting the world," said Zuckerberg on a conference call.

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