Facebook records 29% rise in revenue as user base continues to grow

Despite regulatory woes, privacy scandals and backlash from governments the world over, Facebook has once again posted strong results for its third quarter that ended on September 30.

The social networking giant reported net income of $6.09 billion -- compared with $5.14 billion in the year-ago period while revenue jumped 29 per cent to $17.65 billion from $13.73 billion a year ago.

Advertising sales accounted for 98 per cent of the total revenue.

"We had a good quarter and our community and business continue to grow. We are focused on making progress on major social issues and building new experiences that improve people's lives around the world," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement late Wednesday.

Daily active users (DAUs) were 1.62 billion on average for September 2019, an increase of 9 per cent year-over-year while monthly active users (MAUs) reached 2.45 billion -- an increase of 8 per cent (YoY).

Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 94 per cent of advertising revenue for the third quarter of 2019, up from approximately 92 per cent of advertising revenue in the third quarter of 2018.

Facebook today employs 43,030 people -- an increase of 28 per cent year-on-year.

"We estimate that around 2.2 billion people now use Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, or Messenger every day on average, and around 2.8 billion people use at least one of our Family of services each month," said Facebook.

Facebook on Wednesday agreed to pay 500,000 pound fine as part of a settlement with the UK's data protection watchdog over the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

The company has paid a record $5 billion fine this year to the US Federal Trade Commission for privacy violations.