Facebook net income falls 12% to USD 205 mn in Jan-Mar

The results has come just few weeks ahead of its expected initial public offering (IPO).

Facebook has posted a net income of USD 205 million in the January-March quarter of 2012 compared to USD 233 million in the year-ago period, the company said in a regulatory filing to the US Securities and Exchange Commission.

The social networking site attributed decline in quarterly profit mainly due to rise in expenses on research, marketing and promotional works.

Facebook's revenue climbed to USD 1.05 billion in the three months ended March 31, 2012 from USD 731 million in the year-ago period.

The company said it has 901 million monthly active users (MAUs) as of March 31, an increase of 33 per cent from the year-ago period. The number of people using its mobile applications each month stood at 488 million at the end of the quarter.

Facebook said users in Brazil, India and the US were important sources of growth both on its' website and on mobile devices.

"We had 45 million MAUs in Brazil as of March 31, 2012, an increase of 180 per cent from the same period in the prior year, and we had 51 million MAUs in India, an increase of 107 per cent from the same period in the prior year," it said.

"Additionally, we had 169 million MAUs in the US as of March 31, 2012, an increase of 15 per cent from the same period in the prior year," it added.

Facebook said it would "continue to focus on growing user base across all geographies, including relatively less-penetrated, large markets such as Brazil, Germany, India, Japan, Russia, and South Korea."

"We intend to grow our user base by continuing our marketing and user acquisition efforts and enhancing our products, including mobile apps, in order to make Facebook more accessible and useful," the company said.

Facebook said its expenses has nearly doubled to USD 677 million during the quarter under review from the year-ago period.

The company's costs on research and development work has surged to USD 153 million from USD 57 million year-earlier. In addition, it has incurred USD 159 million on sales and marketing during the three months to March, 2012 compared to USD 68 million in the year-ago period.

In February, Facebook, had filed for an initial public offering which could raise at least USD 10 billion and could value the company between USD 75 billion and USD 100 billion. PTI SP RAH