Facebook Australia bounces back with AU$23.3 million after tax profit

Facebook Australia's profit before income tax came in at AU$35 million, with the company ending up with a AU$23.3 million profit after the income tax payments were made. This was a bounce-back from FY17, where Facebook Australia reported a AU$9.6 million after tax loss.

The company's revenue for the year ended 31 December, 2018, meanwhile, is AU$125.5 million, up 34% year on year from AU$94 million.

Of the company's total revenue, the social network took in AU$125 million for its online advertising sales, which is a significant increase from the AU$94 million it made from advertisements in FY17. The remaining revenue came from Services, which amounted to almost AU$700,000.

Expenditure-wise, Facebook Australia increased its spending in every area except for net impairment losses on financial assets. Most notably, expenditure on employee wages increased from AU$32.4 million to AU$44 million, while facilities and offices spending more than doubled to almost AU$10 million.

Facebook Australia reported having 123 employees in FY18.

Facebook Australia paid AU$11.7 million in income tax, compared to the AU$42 million it paid in the year prior. The AU$11.7 million figure is comprised of a AU$14.2 million tax and a AU$2.4 million deferred tax benefit.

Facebook, the parent company, published its first quarter financial results last week, notifying investors that it accrued a $3 billion legal expense in Q1 2019 related to an ongoing US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) investigation.

It also gained $15 billion in revenue, up 26% from last year despite analysts expecting only revenue of $14.97 billion.

Facebook also met with the Australian government earlier this year to discuss whether criminal penalties should be introduced against social media platforms that allow videos containing serious offences to be streamed in response to the Christchurch terrorist attack.

Canberra was underwhelmed by Facebook's arguments against the legislation, with the Criminal Code Amendment (Unlawful Showing of Abhorrent Violent Material) Bill 2019 being passed earlier this month.

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