A common theme during Facebook’s third-quarter earnings call Tuesday was the fact that many of the social network’s monetization efforts launched in the past few months, and evaluating their progress as of Sept. 30 was too soon in most cases.
Even though Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram didn’t officially close until early September, too late to have an impact on the social network’s third-quarter results, the photo-sharing application was praised by Facebook Co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg during the company’s earnings call.
At one point during Facebook’s third-quarter earnings conference call, Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman mentioned that Europe has been a challenge for the social network. Based on the financial results released by the company Tuesday, Ebersman’s comment was an understatement.
The name Barbara C. Jacobs may not ring a bell for most readers, but the name of the assistant director for corporation finance at the Securities and Exchange Commission is definitely a familiar one in the offices of Facebook Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman and Fenwick & West, the social network’s law firm, as she and her staff were responsible for vetting the company’s initial public offering filing.
Facebook Director Peter Thiel converted more than 9 million Facebook class-B shares to class A last week, making them easier to sell, should he choose to do so, Bloomberg reported.
Not everyone is dumping Facebook stock like dirty laundry. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings purchased roughly $1 million in shares of the social network, and Microsoft is reportedly holding onto its stake in the company.
With the restriction on sales of Facebook shares by large shareholders set to expire Aug. 16, Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman is holding private meetings with those investors in New York Friday, according to reports.
A healthy portion of Facebook’s second-quarter earnings call Thursday was devoted to advertising, specifically social advertising, and the unique opportunities and challenges presented by advertising on the social network.
Facebook’s first quarterly financial report since going public offered some good news and some bad news for the company. The good news? Facebook is continually gaining users, especially on mobile. The bad news? The company took a major financial hit in stock compensation after the post-initial public offering freefall. But the three executives on Thursday’s earnings call — Co-Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, and Chief Financial Officer David Ebersman — are confident in Facebook’s future.
Facebook’s first-ever earnings call as a publicly traded company will be held Thursday, July 26, at 5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. ET, according to an entry on the Facebook Investor Relations events list, which provided no other details.
