With 2 billion users, Facebook profits up 71% in Q2

Clocking over two billion monthly active users (MAUs), Facebook has posted a net income of $3.89 billion in second quarter of 2017 — up 71% from the same quarter last year.

Riding on increased mobile video ad sales, Facebook stocks hit record high as total revenue was up 44.8% to $9.32 billion, the company said in a statement late Wednesday.

“We had a good second quarter and first half of the year. Our community is now two billion people and we’re focusing on bringing the world closer together,” said Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

The daily active users (DAUs) were 1.32 billion on average for June 2017, an increase of 17 per cent year-over-year.

Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 87% of advertising revenue for the second quarter, up from approximately 84% of advertising revenue in the second quarter last year.

The growing monetisation of video within the Facebook News Feed and the popularity of photo-sharing app Instagram contributed majorly towards these results.

“Clearly, the biggest driver of growth is, overall, Facebook News Feed. Instagram is making a contribution, and an increasing contribution,” Chief Financial Officer David Wehner was quoted as saying in The Guardian.

Capital expenditures for the second quarter of 2017 were $1.44 billion.

Facebook currently employees 20,658 people — an increase of 43% year-over-year.