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Facebook stock soars; unaffected by the Russian ad issue

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facebook stock soars, unaffected by the Russian ads issue

It seems that Facebook is unaffected by the Russian ads issue. The company's third quarter has soared dramatically 79 percent and revenues were up nearly 50 percent in the third quarter as marketers poured money into Facebook's advertising offerings, as reported by Reuters.

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Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg condemned Russia's attempts to influence last year's election through Facebook's advertisements and posts. Zuckerberg said that 10,000 additional people will review content on the network, though based on past practice many of those people will be contractors. The spending would hit profits, Facebook said, with expenses expected to grow by 45 percent to 60 percent next year.

Facebook’s total advertising revenue rose 49 percent in the third quarter to $10.14 billion, about 88 percent of which came from mobile ads. Analysts on average had expected total ad revenue of $9.71 billion, according to data and analytics firm FactSet.

The company’s share price, which hit a record $182.90 earlier on Wednesday, initially rose in after-hours trading, but later fell into negative territory on the discussion of the higher spending. Shares have gained almost 60 percent this year.

Mark Zuckerberg said generating cash is less important to us than protecting the community. He further said, "Our community continues to grow and our business is doing well. But none of that matters if our services are used in ways that don’t bring people closer together. We’re serious about preventing abuse on our platforms. We’re investing so much insecurity that it will impact our profitability."

Although he did not directly reference the storm generated in the US due to Russia's meddling in the elections last year. The company disclosed that Russia had brought at least 3,000 political adverts and published thousands of posts that were seen by more than 126 million American users.

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