Facebook has announced that its fourth quarter revenue in 2013 jumped 63% thanks to a boost in mobile advertising sales.The California-based social networking company earned $523m (£316m), between October and December last year. That is up $64m (£39m) from the previous year.
Shares were up 7% at $57.36 (£34.64) in after-hours trading on Wednesday.
Facebook said revenue from mobile ads represented 53% of its total advertising revenue in the final quarter of 2013 – up from 49% the previous quarter.
Overall revenue climbed by $1bn to $2.59bn (£1.56bn), above analysts’ expectations.
The company, which will be 10 years old next week, says it now has 1.23 billion monthly users, with 945 million accessing its services on a smartphone or tablet.
In a statement, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said: “It was a great end to the year for Facebook.
“We’re looking forward to our next decade and to helping connect the rest of the world.”
Chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg added: “The mobile shift is happening and it’s working really well for Facebook.”
Ms Sandberg credited the strong growth to an increasing demand for mobile adverts, the site’s improved tools to demonstrate the effectiveness of its advertising and a growing number of small businesses using Facebook to create free web pages.
Facebook shares have risen by 51% in the last six months.
