Call it a tale of two social networks.
Facebook announced its earnings for Q1 2016 a day after Twitter, and it couldn't have painted a more different picture. Even though Twitter gained monthly users, it's revenue missed expectations and sent the company's stock into a tailspin. What's more, those user numbers are measly compared to the big F.
Facebook continues to grow... and grow. Raking in $5.38 billion, it almost doubled its revenue from the same time last year. Total profit stood at $1.51 billion, more than triple what it brought home in Q1 2015.
Here's even more numbers on its killer quarter:
- 1.09 billion daily active users, up 16% year-over-year (YoY)
- 989 million mobile daily users, up 24% YoY
- 1.65 billion monthly active users, up 15% YoY
- 1.51 billion mobile monthly users, up 21% YoY
- 50 minutes - the average time users spend per day across Facebook's various properties
Mobile continues to be a major driver for Facebook, and 82% of its ad revenue came from people's pockets in the quarter, up 73% from last year. Though it was down in a lot of money metrics compared to Q4 2015 - traditionally Facebook's strongest quarter followed by a dip in Q1 - it still did plenty well for itself.
One thing to keep an eye out for is the trajectory of Facebook's regional growth. It's still adding users in the US, though at a slower rate than other places, especially the developing world.
This is, of course, where Facebook's attention is focused over the next 10 years, so it won't come as a surprise to see the light blue areas continue to balloon while the dark blue barely nudges upward.
Z stock
The final takeaway from Facebook's big day is that it's proposing to create a new class of stock that would allow CEO Mark Zuckerberg to remain in an active leadership role while at the same time he gives away 99% of his company shares to charitable causes.
Zuckerberg said in a note that in addition to his goals at Facebook, he also feels a responsibility to solve larger global problems, including curing all diseases (all of them) by the end of this century.
The new stock would allow Zuck to maintain founder control while also advancing the other causes he cares about more quickly. It's a win-win for the idealist CEO and, really, a win for the company that's become synonymous with his name.
Stock holders meet in June and will vote on the proposal then. I'd be shocked if it didn't go through, though if it didn't, that'd definitely put a damper on Facebook's seemingly endless joyride.
