Facebook earning in Q4 soar over pandemic, new challenges await in 2021

The Apple move drew a rare public rebuke from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who during a conference call accused Apple of favoring its own interests and not those of users

Facebook capped a tumultuous 2020 with soaring earnings in the final quarter, its user base boosted by people staying home and its revenue buoyed by a shift to digital advertising amid the pandemic.

But the company predicted uncertainty for 2021 and said its revenue in the latter half of the year could face significant pressure. Because revenue grew so quickly in the second half, the social network could have trouble keeping up that pace.

It's also facing challenges in how it targets advertisements, including Apple's coming launch of privacy protections that could limit Facebook's ability to target ads.

Facebook earned USD 11.22 billion, or USD 3.88 per share, in the October-December period, well above the USD 3.19 that analysts expected and up 53 per cent from a year earlier. Revenue grew 22 per cent to USD 28.07 billion, higher than the USD 26.36 billion analysts were predicting, according to a poll by FactSet.

Its monthly user base grew 12 per cent to 2.8 billion. Facebook ended 2020 with 58,604 employees, a 30 per cent increase from a year earlier.

Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based company slipped about 2per cent in after-hours trading to USD 268.98.