By Barbara Ortutay
Facebook capped a tumultuous 2020 with soaring earnings in the final quarter, its user base boosted by people staying home, and its revenue buoyed by a shift to digital advertising amid the pandemic.
But the company predicted uncertainty for 2021 and said its revenue in the latter half of the year could face significant pressure. Because revenue grew so quickly in the second half, the social network could have trouble keeping up that pace.
It’s also facing challenges in how it targets advertisements, including Apple’s coming launch of privacy protections that could limit Facebook’s ability to target ads.
Facebook earned $11.22 billion, or $3.88 per share, in the October-December period, well above the $3.19 that analysts expected and up 53% from a year earlier. Revenue grew 22% to $28.07 billion, higher than the $26.36 billion analysts were predicting, according to a poll by FactSet.
Its monthly user base grew 12% to 2.8 billion. Facebook ended 2020 with 58,604 employees, a 30% increase from a year earlier.
Shares of the Menlo Park, California-based company slipped about 2% in after-hours trading to $268.98.
Microsoft has relinquished its seat on the board of OpenAI, saying its participation is no longer needed because the firm has improved its governance.
Target will no longer accept personal checks from shoppers as of July 15 in a sign of how a once ubiquitous payment method is going the way of the dodo.
A Delaware judge is considering a massive and unprecedented fee request by lawyers who successfully voided a pay package for Tesla CEO Elon Musk
The Bank of America Institute found that average monthly rent payment growth for the bank's small business clients rose 12% year-on-year.
A driverless ride-hailing car in China hit a pedestrian, but people on social media are taking the carmaker’s side in an AI vs. humans debate.
The Federal Reserve faces a cooling job market as well as persistently high prices, Chair Jerome Powell said in a possible sign of looming rate cuts.
America’s oldest flour company, King Arthur Baking Co., saw a six-fold increase in demand during the pandemic, and baking interest continues to rise.
The surgeon general has said there's a loneliness epidemic in America. For many people, that includes a lack of friendships at work. But there's hope!
The housing market shows few signs of busting out of its three-year funk after a disappointing spring season and amid a gloomy outlook for the summer and f
The entertainment giant Paramount will merge with Skydance, closing out a decades-long run by the Redstone family in Hollywood and injecting cash.
