Facebook revenue doubles to $1.6bn – report


8 Sep 2011

Social networking giant Facebook’s revenue doubled to $1.6bn during the first half of 2011, news service Reuters reported an anonymous source with knowledge of Facebook’s financials as saying.

Since Facebook is a privately held company, it does not disclose its financial results.

The company’s net income from January-June 2011 reached nearly $500m, the source said.

It’s unclear how much advertising sales contributed to Facebook’s $1.6bn in revenue. The company also receives a 30pc cut of sales of virtual goods from social games on the site, such as FarmVille.

The news comes as investors placed Facebook’s valuation at about $80bn in private markets, Reuters reported, adding that many industry observers expect the company to go public in 2012.

Facebook, founded by then-Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg in 2004, is expected to launch new features this month, such as music services.