Facebook’s financial and operational results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020 show the social media organization on solid ground. Earnings were up, as were daily and monthly active users.
Advertising revenue was up 17% in the first quarter. This number is not expected to hold the same promise for the second quarter.
“We experienced a significant reduction in the demand for advertising, as well as a related decline in the pricing of our ads, over the last three weeks of the first quarter of 2020,” according to Facebook’s official press release. “Due to the increasing uncertainty in our business outlook, we are not providing specific revenue guidance for the second quarter or full-year 2020, but rather a snapshot on revenue performance in the second quarter thus far.
“After the initial steep decrease in advertising revenue in March, we have seen signs of stability reflected in the first three weeks of April, where advertising revenue has been approximately flat compared to the same period a year ago, down from the 17% year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2020. The April trends reflect weakness across all of our user geographies as most of our major countries have had some sort of shelter-in-place guidelines in effect.”
Facebook Q1 earnings press release
The Statista chart below shows how many people use each of Facebook’s social networking and messaging tools, based on the information presented in Facebook’s Q1 earnings report released on April 29, 2020.
Enagement
Facebook said its community metrics show increased engagement as users attempted to stay connected while sheltering in place. These heightened metrics include daily active users (DAUs), monthly active users (MAUs), family monthly active people (MAP) and family daily active people (DAP). Facebook predicts these increases will subside when various stay-at-home orders are lifted.
First quarter 2020 highlights
- Facebook daily active users (DAUs) – DAUs were 1.73 billion on average for March 2020, an increase of 11% year-over-year.
- Facebook monthly active users (MAUs) – MAUs were 2.60 billion as of March 31, 2020, an increase of 10% year-over-year.
- Family daily active people (DAP) – DAP was 2.36 billion on average for March 2020, an increase of 12% year-over-year.
- Family monthly active people (MAP) – MAP was 2.99 billion as of March 31, 2020, an increase of 11% year-over-year.
- Capital expenditures – Capital expenditures, including principal payments on finance leases, were $3.66 billion for the first quarter of 2020.
- Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities – Cash and cash equivalents and marketable securities were $60.29 billion as of March 31, 2020. Following the end of the quarter, we entered into an agreement to invest in Jio Platforms Limited, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited, for approximately $5.7 billion, and we paid the $5.0 billion settlement amount due under our modified consent order with the FTC, which took effect in April 2020.
- Headcount – Headcount was 48,268 as of March 31, 2020, an increase of 28% year-over-year.
(Source: Facebook press release)
