Facebook monthly active users hit 1.55b

Analysts were expecting just $4.37 billion during the three-month period. But costs rose less sharply this past quarter – by 68 percent, compared to 82 percent in the second quarter – and net profit was up again.

While capital expenditures for the third quarter of 2015 were $780 million, cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $15.83 billion at the end of the third quarter of 2015, the statement read. For a company founded by a teenager that’s on the cusp of celebrating its 12th anniversary, Facebook has demonstrated impressive staying power.

Its total of 1.55 billion monthly active users – equivalent to nearly one-fifth of the world’s population – is 14 per cent higher than a year ago and the site now averages more than a billion users every day.

Facebook reported $3.4 billion in mobile advertising revenue, while total advertising (desktop included) came to $4.3 million. Mobile Monthly Active Users (MAUs) were 1.39 billion as of September 30, 2015 showing an increase of 23% year-over-year and MAUs were 1.55 billion as of September 30, 2015.

Facebook used to be criticized for not having a solid mobile strategy, but those days seem to be long gone.

For the first time, one billion people now check their Facebook news feed every day.

“We had a good quarter and got a lot done”, Zuckerberg was quoted as saying in the earnings release.

Shares in the world’s largest social network headed higher in after-hours trading as the figures beat analysts’ expectations. Ads make up most of Facebook’s income, and mobile ads bring in 78% of the social network’s advertising revenue.

More than 800 million people are also using WhatsApp, the messaging app Facebook bought for $19 billion in 2014, and another 700 million people use the Messenger service that Facebook developed internally.

Revenue jumped to $4.50 billion in the third quarter ended September 30, from $3.20 billion a year earlier.