Facebook surpasses Wall Street expectations with strong fourth quarter despite challenges

Facebook surpasses Wall Street expectations with strong fourth quarter despite challenges

Facebook went above Wall Street’s expectations with a strong fourth quarter report after it had profited greatly from advertising and new users despite challenges it faced regarding regulation, privacy, and election interference.

Facebook said that about 2.89 billion people had used at least one of its services each month with about 2.26 billion of those people logging in daily. The Menlo Park company said that its main service had 2.5 billion users monthly by the end of the year, rising by 8% from a year earlier.

On Wednesday, Facebook said it earned $7.35 billion, moving its shares up 7% ($2.56/share) a year earlier compared to the $6.88 billion ($2.38/share).   

Despite this, Facebook has recently been going through regulatory scrutiny, accused by several government entities in the U.S. for alleged anti-competitive behavior. In Russia, actors used platforms such as Facebook to interfere in the 2016 elections in the U.S.

 In August 2019, the FTC fined Facebook $5 billion for privacy violations, marking it the largest fine the FTC has ever imposed on a tech company.