Facebook reported impressive quarterly earnings Wednesday, thanks in large part to strong mobile advertising sales, which accounted for 41 percent of the company’s total ad revenue. The announcement came as a happy surprise to investors, exceeding analyst expectations by a hefty $200 million and sparking a 25-percent surge in Facebook stock by Thursday morning.
Techonomy’s David Kirkpatrick spoke on Bloomberg West on Wednesday about Facebook’s good news. Kirkpatrick called the results a “historic moment for a company that’s really coming into its own,” and pointed to Facebook’s promise for real, long-term growth. With more than half of Facebook’s users already on Facebook mobile, the company’s mobile inventory will continue to be a tremendous opportunity for profit and sales, Kirkpatrick believes.
But while Facebook’s mobile ads are performing well, there is room for improvement. “I still think the ads that I see on Facebook generally stink,” Kirkpatrick said. “But the fact is they do seem to be improving the ability to pick the right ads to show the right people at the right time so the progress is clearly evident in these numbers.”
