Facebook reported fourth-quarter revenues up 52 percent year-on-year to USD 5.84 billion, led by continued strong growth in mobile advertising. Mobile accounted for 80 percent of ad revenue in the quarter, up from 69 percent a year earlier. The company generated a net profit of USD 2.27 billion or USD 0.79 per share, up from USD 1.52 billion or USD 0.54 per share a year earlier. After free cash flow of USD 2.14 billion in the quarter, Facebook ended 2015 with USD 18.43 billion in total cash.
In December, the social network had an average 1.04 billion users each day, up 17 percent from a year earlier. The number of daily users on mobile devices rose a stronger 25 percent to 934 million. On a monthly basis, total active users rose 14 percent year-on-year to 1.59 billion, and mobile users were up 21 percent to 1.44 billion.
The strong revenue growth was supported by increased revenue per user, as the growth in the number of users slows. ARPU reached USD 3.73 in the fourth quarter, up from USD 2.81 in the same period of 2014. The US & Canada remains the most lucrative market for the company, generating an average USD 13.54 per user. Facebook also showed a strong decline in costs as a percentage of revenue in Q4, both compared to the year-ago period and Q3. As a result its operating margin rose to 44 percent from 29 percent a year earlier.
