Facebook growth slows, shares tumble 10%

Facebook reported a loss of US$157 million Thursday in its first earnings report after its troubled initial public offering.  The company’s shares plunged 10% in after-hours trade.  This is a day after its partner, Zynga, reported disappointing earnings.  This puts Facebook’s market capitalization at about $65 billion, well below the $100 billion valuation that the company said it was worth in its May IPO. Despite that, its results for the second quarter showed a profit of 12 cents a share, in line with most forecasts, as revenue rose to $1.18 billion, a little above market estimates.  Still this revenue growth is the lowest since at least the 1st quarter of 2011, when Facebook was more than doubling the amount of money it brought in from advertising.  The reason? Facebook’s shift to smartphones!  More users are going to the site on their phones instead of their computers.

Read more on Rappler and the Wall Street Journal