Facebook showed little slowdown in its growth in the fourth quarter, despite recent warnings of increased costs for security and policing content on the social network. Revenues rose 47 percent year-on-year to USD 12.97 billion, and operating profit jumped 61 percent to USD 7.35 billion.
Net profit grew a slower 20 percent to USD 4.27 billion, due to one-time charges of USD 2.2 billion for the US corporate tax changes. Over the full year, net earnings were still up 56 percent to USD 15.93 billion.
The company's use base also continued to grow. Both daily and monthly active users rose 14 percent year-on-year, to respectively 1.40 billion and 2.13 billion.
With saturation in the US and Europe, new users are mainly coming in Asia and the rest of the world. However, North America and Europe continue to be the main sources of revenue growth at the company. The US and Canada alone still account for just under half of the group's revenues and generate much higher ARPU than the rest of the world.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement that it was a strong year for the company but also a "hard one". This year, the company will focus on "making sure Facebook isn't just fun to use, but also good for people's well-being and for society".
Already last quarter, the company made changes to show fewer viral videos "to make sure people's time is well spent. In total, we made changes that reduced time spent on Facebook by roughly 50 million hours every day", Zuckerberg said. The focus on more "meaningful connections" is expected to make the company's long-term future more viable.
