Facebook posts strong Q2 results, more than 1B daily mobile users
Facebook's stock jumped after the bell Wednesday, when the social media giant posted impressive second quarter earnings driven largely by mobile growth.
Earnings per share came to 97 cents on revenues of $6.44bn -- a 59 percent increase in revenue year over year. Wall Street was looking for earnings of 82 cents a share on revenues of $6.02bn.
Mobile advertising revenue represented approximately 84 percent of advertising revenue, up from about 76 percent of advertising revenue a year earlier.
Facebook's user base continues to grow: the company had 1.13 billion daily active users for June, a 17 percent year-over-year increase. Its monthly active users as of June 30 reached 1.71 billion, a 15 percent year-over-year increase.
Mobile grew even faster: daily active users for mobile came in at 1.03 billion on average for June, a 22 percent year-over-year increase. Mobile monthly active users as of June 30 came in at 1.57 billion, a 22 percent year-over-year increase.
While mobile continues to grow, CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized his optimism about video: "Our community and business had another good quarter," said Zuckerberg in a statement. "We're particularly pleased with our progress in video as we move towards a world where video is at the heart of all our services."
Already, "video as a whole is making a significant contribution to time spent growth," said Facebook CFO David Wehner, noting that time spent across Facebook apps increased in the double digits in the second quarter.
Zuckerberg, meanwhile, acknowledged the cultural impact of Facebook Live -- both the light-hearted videos driving engagement, such as that of "Chewbacca mom" Candace Payne, as well as the serious ones, such as the aftermath of the police shooting Philando Castile in Falcon Heights, Minn.
When asked about his thoughts on the popularity of Pokémon Go, Zuckerberg said he's enjoying the game like everyone else and used the opportunity to talk more about Facebook's push forward into video.
Pokémon Go illustrates the potential of augmented reality, he said, noting that Facebook this year acquired the selfie filter app Masquerade. There's a "big opportunity to build out that platform," he said, "as people look for richer and richer ways to express themselves".