Facebook's quarterly revenues climb by nearly a third year-on-year but net income halves

Facebook’s quarterly revenues have grown by nearly a third (28 per cent) year-on-year to $16.9bn for the three months to the end of June.

Almost all of its turnover, $16.6bn, comes from advertising. Mobile made up some 94 per cent of ad revenue for the period – up three per cent year-on-year.

Despite the rise in turnover, the company’s net income fell by half year-on-year to $2.6bn for the period.

In its latest financial statement, Facebook said it must pay out $5bn in a settlement bringing a US Federal Trade Commission inquiry into its platform and user data practices to a close.

The company said it had agreed to “significantly enhance our practices and processes for privacy compliance and oversight” as part of the settlement.

The social network’s second quarter figures include a $2bn legal expense related to the FTC settlement and a $1.1bn additional income tax expense.

Facebook, which also owns social media channels Instagram and Whatsapp, estimates that more than 2.1bn people use its services every day on average.

Across its platforms, the number of daily average users reached 1.6bn on average for June, up 8 per cent year-on-year.

Facebook has grown staff numbers by close to a third (31 per cent) on June last year.

“We had a strong quarter and our business and community continue to grow,” said Facebook founder and chief executive Mark Zuckerberg.

“We are investing in building stronger privacy protections for everyone and on delivering new experiences for the people who use our services.”

In a statement in its accounts, Facebook said “the online technology industry and our company have received increased regulatory scrutiny in the past quarter” and revealed that the US Department of Justice will begin an “antitrust review of market leading online platforms”.

Facebook was the least trusted of the main social media platforms by UK users surveyed by Ofcom recently, with 35 per cent calling it trustworthy.

The company made $55.8bn in revenue and net income of $22.1bn last year.