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Facebook surges on robust mobile advertising sales

Published: 08:40 28 Jan 2016 EST

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Mobile ads accounted for 80% of total ad revenue in the quarter.

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) shares surged on Thursday as robust mobile advertising sales powered the world’s largest online social network fourth-quarter results.

Facebook topped $5bn in quarterly revenue for the first time. It was also the first quarter in which Facebook posted more than $1bn in quarterly net income.

Shares rose as much as 13% in New York in morning trading. The stock had gained 21% over the past twelve months through the close of trading on Wednesday.

Total revenue rose 52% to $5.84bn from $3.85bn a year earlier, with ad revenue jumping 57% to $5.64bn in the holiday shopping period, when spending on advertising typically increases.

Facebook said late Wednesday that mobile ads accounted for 80% of Total ad revenue in the quarter, compared with about 78% in the third quarter and 69% a year earlier.

Stripping out some items, the company earned $0.79 per share.

Analysts on average had expected earnings of $0.68 per share and revenue of $5.37bn, according to Capital IQ.

The company now has 1.59bn users who log into the service every month, especially on smartphones and tablets. That’s up 14% from the end of 2014. Of those, 1.44bn used the service on mobile devices, an increase of 21%.

The company said 500mln people watch 100mln hours of video on Facebook every day.

By geography, revenue from Asia jumped 19% from the prior quarter to $846mln, accelerating from an increase of 14% in the third quarter. Facebook's service is not available for users in China but it can sell ads to companies there.

Facebook's share of the digital advertising market rose to 10% from 8% last year, according to research firm eMarketer, while Google's share retreated to 30% from 32%.

Google's parent company Alphabet is scheduled to release fourth-quarter earnings on Monday.

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