Facebook Earnings Turn To Instagram And Yahoo
There's something to be said about a company as seemingly fantastically successful as Facebook in regards to earnings which show growth over the year, but not over the quarter. That appears to be the case with Facebook here in their Q1 earnings report which has them at $1.06 billion revenues here in the first fiscal quarter of 2012, this up from $731 million during the same quarter last year but down from $1.131 billion the last quarter of 2011. That said, Facebook's earnings call has many similar shows of ups and downs, including how it's about to deal with Instagram.
Facebook's profits are down, as is their income. Several news bits came up during the chat today that'll have massive effects on the future of the company, these including their dealings with both Yahoo and Instagram. Profits were down to $205 million in net income this first quarter of the year, down from both the same quarter last year at $233 million and Q4 of 2011 which was $302 million. Operating Income was down the most at $381 million compared to $548 million the quarter before this one.
On Instagram, Facebook representatives spoke about how they'd actually purchased the fledgling app for $300 million in cash in addition to 23 million shares. Part of the deal Facebook had with Instagram's crew in these dealings was that if their acquisition was not approved, Facebook would still have to pay $200 million to the crew. Speaking on their future with the app:
"Following the closing of this acquisition, we plan to maintain Instagram's products as independent mobile applications to enhance our photos product offerings and to enable users to increase their levels of mobile engagement and photo sharing." – Facebook Spokesperson
Facebook noted also that they'd planned on expanding their patent portfolio due in part to the situation they were still facing with Yahoo. In that Yahoo was currently suing Facebook and Facebook was counter-suing Yahoo for patent infringements on both sides, Facebook has decided to move forward with protecting their business by picking up hundreds of patents.
"This litigation is still in its early stages and the final outcome, including our liability, if any, with respect to Yahoo's claims, is uncertain. If an unfavorable outcome were to occur in this litigation, the impact could be material to our business, financial condition, or results of operations." – Facebook Spokesperson
Check out more news on Facebook's dealings of late by hitting up the Facebook portal or by heading to the timeline below.
[via SEC]