Facebook beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue on Wednesday and said it has seen «signs of stability» for sales in April after a plunge in March, in yet another signal that tech giants may weather the coronavirus-induced economic collapse better than other sectors.
Facebook beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue on Wednesday and said it has seen «signs of stability» for sales in April after a plunge in March, in yet another signal that tech giants may weather the coronavirus-induced economic collapse better than other sectors.
The announcement came a day after Alphabet’s Google said a drop in its online ad sales similarly steadied in April. Shares of Facebook, the world’s biggest social network and the owner of WhatsApp and Instagram, soared 9 percent in extended trading.
Facebook said advertising revenue was roughly flat in the first three weeks of April compared with the same period last year, a tentative early sign of recovery following a «steep decrease» in revenue in March as lockdowns took effect worldwide to slow the spread of the virus.
Revenue growth was 18 percent in the first quarter, Facebook’s slowest ever by a wide margin, although it beat analysts’ expectations for growth of 16 percent, according to IBES data from Refinitiv. Ad sales, which make up nearly all of Facebook’s revenue, rose 17 percent to $17.44 billion (roughly RS. 1.3 lakh crores).
Some businesses took advantage of bargain pricing to run a heavier volume of ads after the pandemic wiped out Facebook ad pricing over the course of the quarter, contributing to a 39 percent increase in total ad impressions, executives said.
