Facebook has created a $13 billion mobile-ad business in four years

Daily active users rose 17 percent to 1.04 billion on average in December, while monthly active users increased 14 percent to 1.59 billion in December. And Facebook said the amount of people accessing its site from a phone or tablet climbed 25 per cent, with 934 million daily active users. These other platforms become more important as Facebook’s growth in monthly active users (MAUs) slows down every quarter which will impact the company’s digital advertising revenue.

In a statement, Facebook co-founder and CEO Marc Zuckerberg said, “Our community continues to grow and our business is thriving”.

“2015 was a great year for Facebook”.

The story of Facebook right now is its mobile dominance-all the more interesting because four years ago investors were wary of the company for its seeming lack of a mobile strategy. The power of advertising was also emphasised as Facebook disclosed 5.6 billion USA dollars (£3.9bn) in revenue for the quarter, an increase of 57% on the same period in 2014.

Facebook crushed Wall Street expectations for its fourth quarter earnings report today, sending the company’s stock up more than 5 percent in after-hours trading. Profit more than doubled to $1.56 billion during the three months ended December 31, up from $701 million a year earlier.

Before handing the tech crown to Facebook, however, remember that the stock market can paint tech companies with the same brush, regardless of their stellar past quarter: Facebook shares are down 8% this year, just a bit better than the Nasdaq Composite.

“It signifies the importance of what they’re providing to advertisers”, he said.

Revenue came in at $5.84 billion for the quarter, compared to the $5.36 billion expected by analysts.

“I think the results show that Facebook’s efforts over the last couple of years to really understand mobile have paid off”, he said.

At the same time, Facebook expanded advertising options, such as allowing marketers to place more ads on its photo-sharing app Instagram. LNKD, +0.55%, with 400 million, the consensus estimate on FactSet is calling for deceleration this quarter. Oculus Rift, the virtual reality headset, started its first sales to consumers earlier this month.