DHAKA: Facebook has posted another exceptional quarter of growth, with profit up 186% from this time last year.

Facebook earned $2bn in the period from April to June, up from $719m in 2015, reports the BBC.

Analysts had anticipated revenue of $5.8bn, but the company managed to beat even those high expectations bringing in $6.4bn in revenue.

Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company was particularly pleased with the growth in video.

“Our community and business had another good quarter,” he said, “We’re particularly pleased with our progress in video as we move towards the world where video is at the heart of all our services.”

Shares of the social media giant climbed nearly 7% in after-hours trading.

Facebook has been encouraging businesses to experiment with video and rolling out new advertising platforms for mobile ads.

Mobile advertising made up 84% of Facebook’s ad revenue in the second quarter up from 76% last year.

The company has benefited from an influx of advertising money moving away from television and on to digital platforms.

“Facebook still has many growth levers left to pull, not least of which is video advertising,” an analyst from RBC Capital Markets wrote in a client note.

The number of monthly-active-users (MAU) - a key measurement for advertisers - increased by 15% to 1.71 billion as of 30 June 2016.

By comparison, Twitter’s MAU increased by just 3% in that period.

BDST: 1203 HRS, JUL 28, 2016
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