Facebook has reported a $157m (£100m)
loss on payments to shareholders such as chief executive Mark Zuckerberg in its
first results since its eagerly anticipated stock market listing in May.

Second quarter costs and expenses nearly quadrupled, up 295% to $1.93bn from
the same period last year.

Excluding staff share schemes, Facebook would have made a profit of $295m.


The figures compare with a $240m profit in the same period last year.

In its statement,
Facebook said the rise was driven primarily by "share-based compensation
expense".

Shares fell 11% in after-hours trade in New York to a record low of
$23.94.

In May, investors had queued to snap up Facebook shares for $38 each.

Sales rose 32% to $1.18bn for the three months to the end of June.

But, according to BBC technology correspondent Rory
Cellan-Jones, that rise in revenue may have been due to all the hype surrounding
the company's stock market share sale.

The number of monthly active users (MAUs) rose 29% from the same period last
year to 955 million, but some analysts question the reliability of this data
given the number of bogus profiles on the social network.
Going mobile
Mobile daily active users surged 67% year-on-year to 543 million.

But, Facebook has yet to resolve how it generates profits as users move from
the computer desktop version to accessing the site via mobile phone.

The company is now making less money from each user as it becomes more
difficult to generate advertising revenue.

Its operating profit margin fell to 43% in the period compared with 53% a
year earlier.

Shervin Pishevar, managing director of Menlo Ventures, and a Facebook
shareholder, told the BBC that he was not worried about the company's share
price.

"I don't think there's any kind of predictions you can make in the short
term. We take a very long term view [and] all of the numbers are incredibly
exciting," he said.

He added that the rise in mobile users was interesting.

"It's driving a lot of growth for Facebook in terms of where people are
spending their time and their money."

David Phillips, a lecturer at the University of Gloucestershire on
communications and social media, questioned whether Facebook could really make
any money from mobile devices.

"I'm not sure it's advertising, I think it may be engagement that's going to
generate the revenues for them," he said, citing games such as Farmville.
"Engagement on mobile is very, very addictive."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-19004005