Facebook Profit Surges as Ad Sales Grow

Facebook isn't adding users the way it once was. But its business is accelerating.

The world's largest social network showed that it can generate more money out of each user, as it posted a 63% increase in revenue and an eightfold increase in profit for the fourth quarter. The results far exceeded investor expectations, sending Facebook shares up 12% in after-hours trading to $59.98, near their all-time high. The stock finished 4 p.m. trading at $53.53, down 2.9%, ahead of the earnings report. Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg said Facebook's results reflected data that showed advertisers that Facebook ads work. In a recent test at Coca-Cola pitting the beverage giant's Facebook ads against its TV ads, "we were the most efficient," she said. Facebook said mobile-advertising accounted for 53% of revenue in the fourth quarter, up from 49% in the third quarter and 23% a year earlier. Market researcher eMarketer said Facebook grabbed 18% of the $16.7 billion global mobile-advertising market last year, second only to Google's 53%. The company said 1.23 billion users logged into the service at least once a month during the quarter, up roughly 3%, or 40 million users, from the previous three months. More than 61% of those people -- 757 million -- used Facebook daily, it said.