(Reuters) – Facebook Inc beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue on Wednesday, powered by increased ad spending by businesses to capitalize on a holiday shopping season driven online by the pandemic.
The results validate the company’s foray into e-commerce with Instagram Shopping and Facebook Marketplace that banked on the trend of social shopping, which picked up pace last year as outdoor recreational activity dwindled due to COVID-19 associated curbs.
The company has launched a slew of new e-commerce products such as Facebook Pay and Facebook Shops that enable in-app purchases across the company’s suite of apps, including Instagram and WhatsApp.
Monthly active users rose 12% to 2.80 billion, above the 2.75 billion expected by analysts.
Total revenue, which comprises primarily of advertising revenue, rose to $28.07 billion in the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31 from $21.08 billion, a year earlier.
Analysts on average estimated quarterly revenue of $26.44 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.
Net income came in at $11.22 billion, or $3.88 per share, compared with $7.35 billion, or $2.56 per share, a year earlier.
(Reporting by Chavi Mehta in Bengaluru and Katie Paul in San Fransisco; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)
