Facebook rides mobile wave to boost profits, user base

Facebook said Wednesday surging mobile advertising lifted its profits and revenues as the world's biggest social network grew to over 1.5 billion people.

Net profit in the third quarter jumped 11 percent from a year ago to $891 million as revenues leapt 41 percent to $4.5 billion, despite the negative impact of a strong dollar.

The vast majority was from advertising, and mobile accounted for 78 percent of ad revenues in the quarter, compared with 66 percent a year earlier.

"This was another good quarter and we continue to grow the size and engagement of our community," said chief executive Mark Zuckerberg on a conference call.

"More than one billion people use Facebook every day."

Facebook said the number of monthly active users of the network hit 1.55 billion, up 14 percent from a year earlier. And it counted some 1.39 billion of its members using mobile devices such as smartphones or tablets.

The stronger-than-expected earnings report sparked a gain of 3.7 percent in Facebook shares in after-hours trade to $107.73.

Analysts say Facebook has become an online advertising juggernaut as it leverages its huge base to expand into other applications such as Instagram and WhatsApp, and delve into virtual reality projects through its acquisition of Oculus.

Zuckerberg said that "with Oculus we're in a great position to deliver a new generation of shared immersive experiences" and noted that its Rift headset would be on sale early next year.

"Virtual reality has the potential to be the next computing platform that changes all of our lives," he added.

"It's important also to recognize that this is going to grow slowly like computers and mobile phones when they first arrived, so we're committed to Oculus and virtual reality for the long term."

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