Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%

#1

Post by tomkarlo » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 8:58 PM UTC

Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%
dealbook.nytimes.com

Re: Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%

#2

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 9:51 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%

#3

Post by Irishsteve » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:01 PM UTC

They still had 1 bill in revenue not so shabby. Without Facebook half the internet would appear not to function correctly be it SSO or analytics. Guess they are here forever and ever and ever

Re: Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%

#4

Post by philipithomas » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:13 PM UTC

Irishsteve wrote: post #3

They still had 1 bill in revenue not so shabby. Without Facebook half the internet would appear not to function correctly be it SSO or analytics. Guess they are here forever and ever and ever

However, I am interested in seeing how their business diversifies over time - Google has both stability and revenue from expanding beyond search. Additional features such as SSO and analytics are increasing the value of Facebook beyond just friend-to-friend interactions, and I am curious about how their business plan will support long-term stability.

Re: Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%

#5

Post by objclxt » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:19 PM UTC

Irishsteve wrote: post #3

They still had 1 bill in revenue not so shabby. Without Facebook half the internet would appear not to function correctly be it SSO or analytics. Guess they are here forever and ever and ever

Don't fall into that trap: it's dangerous. Twelve years ago AOL was doing just as well ($1-2 billion each quarter, $300-400 million in earnings), and was the largest portal/ISP around. Blackberry and Nokia were kings of the mobile mountain five years ago.

You are only as good as your current product: Facebook's commodity is people, and people are not as loyal as you might think.

Facebook could very well be around a long time, but 'forever and ever and ever'? Smart people have lost a lot of money thinking like that. I certainly wouldn't gamble on it.

Re: Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%

#6

Post by mikeryan » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:29 PM UTC

Its profit, its going to be volatile. Honestly some folks will want to say the sky is falling but a lot of folks will point out that any profit at all for a company growing like Facebook is a waste of perfectly good cash.

Re: Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%

#7

Post by jacques_chester » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:30 PM UTC

philipithomas wrote: post #4

Irishsteve wrote: post #3

They still had 1 bill in revenue not so shabby. Without Facebook half the internet would appear not to function correctly be it SSO or analytics. Guess they are here forever and ever and ever

However, I am interested in seeing how their business diversifies over time - Google has both stability and revenue from expanding beyond search. Additional features such as SSO and analytics are increasing the value of Facebook beyond just friend-to-friend interactions, and I am curious about how their business plan will support long-term stability.

Google is actually not diversified at all. Out of $38 billion of revenue earned in 2011, $36.5 billion came from advertising[1].

[1] http://investor.google.com/financial/tables.html -- compare "Revenues" to "Total Advertising Revenues".

Re: Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%

#8

Post by gauravk92 » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:30 PM UTC

objclxt wrote: post #5

Irishsteve wrote: post #3

They still had 1 bill in revenue not so shabby. Without Facebook half the internet would appear not to function correctly be it SSO or analytics. Guess they are here forever and ever and ever

Don't fall into that trap: it's dangerous. Twelve years ago AOL was doing just as well ($1-2 billion each quarter, $300-400 million in earnings), and was the largest portal/ISP around. Blackberry and Nokia were kings of the mobile mountain five years ago. You are only as good as your current product: Facebook's commodity is people, and people are not as loyal as you might think. Facebook could very well be around a l…

Facebook also owns your social graph and that is what they exclaim proudly about the most as well. If any other service wants access to it they have to ask Facebook and they can't just take it. And if there is no Facebook integration, then theres an additional level of friction in getting new users. It's definitely a tough market to breakthrough in because of Facebook (Ask google).

Re: Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%

#9

Post by jacques_chester » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:33 PM UTC

objclxt wrote: post #5

Irishsteve wrote: post #3

They still had 1 bill in revenue not so shabby. Without Facebook half the internet would appear not to function correctly be it SSO or analytics. Guess they are here forever and ever and ever

Don't fall into that trap: it's dangerous. Twelve years ago AOL was doing just as well ($1-2 billion each quarter, $300-400 million in earnings), and was the largest portal/ISP around. Blackberry and Nokia were kings of the mobile mountain five years ago. You are only as good as your current product: Facebook's commodity is people, and people are not as loyal as you might think. Facebook could very well be around a l…

I remember when movie trailers and posters had AOL keywords in them. Now it's "Like us on Facebook!"

Re: Facebook’s 1st-Quarter Profit Falls 12%

#10

Post by moreorless » Mon, Apr 23, 2012, 10:47 PM UTC

mikeryan wrote: post #6

Its profit, its going to be volatile. Honestly some folks will want to say the sky is falling but a lot of folks will point out that any profit at all for a company growing like Facebook is a waste of perfectly good cash.

Please explain why it is bad for a growing company to turn a profit?