Facebook's net profit fell significantly in 2012

The social network Facebook presented the results of its work in 2012 , the result was a disappointment for many analysts (and many, I think, pleased).

• The company's profit for the 4th quarter of 2012 amounted to $ 64 million; in the 4th quarter of 2011, the profit amounted to 302 million.
• Revenues for the 4th quarter increased over the same period of 2011 by 40% (up to 1.6 billion dollars).
• Net profit for the whole of 2012 amounted to only $ 53 million.
• Revenue for the year 2012 increased by 37% compared to the previous year - up to $ 5 billion.

The social network receives a significant part of its income from the sale of virtual goods and payments in applications. 23% of revenue comes from mobile advertising.

If we analyze these data, it is clear that with a significant increase in revenue, profits fall, this is primarily due to the growth of the company's expenses (just over a billion in the 4th quarter), Facebook explains this increase in expenses by active R & D investments.
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Among other interesting facts, it can be noted that for the first time in the company's history the number of visitors from mobile devices (680 million) exceeded the number of users from personal computers (618 million).

In fact, unlike most journalists, I am not inclined to dramatize the situation - the revenue from advertising and services is growing, the number of users is growing. Costs can always be clamped if the situation is critical.