Facebook had a strong fourth quarter as it made more money on advertising and added more users despite challenges around regulation, privacy and efforts to fight election interference. Facebook said that about 2.89 billion people use at least one of its services – Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram or Messenger – each month. In reporting fourth-quarter results, Facebook said it earned 7.35 billion dollars (£5.65 billion), or 2.56 dollars (£1.97) per share, up 7% from 6.88 billion dollars (£5.29 billion), or 2.38 dollars (£1.83) per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 25% to 21.1 billion dollars (£16.22 billion) from 16.9 billion dollars (£12.99 billion), the bulk of that from ads. Analysts were expecting earnings of 2.52 dollars (£1.94) per share and revenue of 20.9 billion dollars (£16.06 billion), according to FactSet.

Source: Irish Independent January 29, 2020 22:30 UTC